Cost of a Unitary Patent

Renewal fees

Following the grant of a patent, the patent proprietor will have to pay annual renewal fees to maintain the patent in force. For conventional European patents (EPs), several renewal fees, which may vary in amount and currency, have to be paid to different national patent offices operating under different legal requirements, particularly in terms of their deadlines. A Unitary Patent (UP) proprietor pays one single renewal fee directly to the EPO, in one currency and under a single legal regime as regards deadlines and admissible means of payment. This greatly simplifies matters for users.

Fees are payable to the EPO – in euros – via any of the accepted payment methods, i.e. credit card, transfer to the EPO bank account or debit from a deposit account held with the EPO. All these accepted payment methods can be accessed via Central Fee Payment. Any person can pay fees; there is no need to involve a representative.

The renewal fees have been set at a very business-friendly level, corresponding to the combined renewal fees due in the four countries where European patents were most often validated in 2015, when the fee level was set.

UP proprietors can also qualify for a 15% reduction on their renewal fees if they file a statement with the EPO indicating their willingness to allow anyone to use their invention (“statement on licences of right”). This statement would appear in the European Patent Register. More information is provided in Part 7 of the Unitary Patent Guidelines and in the Notes to Form 7001.

The UP fee level is particularly attractive in the early years, with annual fees for maintaining a Unitary Patent for ten years – the current average lifetime of a European patent – amounting to less than EUR 5 000 in total.

Comparison of renewal fees: UP compared with conventional EP in euro

* Based on national renewal fees as of 1 April 2026. The figures shown in this table are updated annually.

Overall costs of a Unitary Patent

A comparison of the overall costs of a Unitary Patent with those of a conventional European patent should consider not only the renewal fees but also the costs associated with the validation and maintenance of a conventional European patent. These costs are considerable and typically include translations, publication fees payable to the various national offices and fees charged by attorneys or other service providers for validation and for payment of national renewal fees.                                               

A Unitary Patent providing protection in 18 Member States requires only one translation and no publication fees. A conventional European patent validated in the same 18 countries requires translations into up to 14 languages (Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, German, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovenian and Swedish). Tasks such as identifying the required translations, doing or subcontracting translations, potentially checking translation quality, submitting translations to national offices, paying publication fees and national renewal fees are typically handled by patent attorneys or specialised translation agencies.                                            

By way of illustration, a conventional European patent validated in 18 UP countries and maintained from year 5 to year 12 costs a total of EUR 75 750 (EUR 34 507 for national renewal and publication fees, plus EUR 41 243 for non-fee related costs). In contrast, a Unitary Patent for the same period costs EUR 11 701 (EUR 7 635 for fees and EUR 4 066 for non-fee costs). This represents 85% lower costs compared to a conventional EP, or EUR 64 049.

If patent protection is sought in all 25 EU member states participating in enhanced cooperation (all EU member states except of Spain and Croatia), the financial advantage of a UP increases slightly in absolute terms. In relative terms, the combination of UP and a conventional EP to cover these 25 countries is 59%-63% cheaper than a conventional EP taking effect in those same countries. If patent protection is sought in all 27 EU member states, the financial advantage of a UP in combination with a conventional EP remains identical in absolute terms to the case of 25 countries. In relative terms, the combined UP and EP approach is 55% to 58% cheaper than a conventional EP.

Estimated overall cost (incl. external costs) of validation and maintenance in euro

* Attorney costs: translation (24 pages), validation and maintenance of a European patent granted during the fourth year after filing of the application. External cost estimations were adjusted by 29.6% corresponding to the Eurozone inflation between December 2015 and February 2026.