16/02/2026
UK IPO Patent Fee Increases
From 1 April 2026, the official fees at the UK IPO will increase. It is the first time the fees have increased since 2018, and is intended to keep up with inflation and other cost pressures. The fees themselves remain very low in comparison with other patent offices.
A full list of the existing and new patent fees can be found here.
For most patent applications, only three official fees are due: the official filing fee, the search fee and the examination fee. For a typical UK patent application, therefore, the UK IPO official fees will increase by £105 to a total of £445.
| Current Fee | New Fee | |
| Filing Fee | £60 | £75 |
| Search Fee | £180 | £240 |
| Examination Fee | £100 | £130 |
This assumes that the application itself and any applications forms are filed on-line. Paper filings incur slightly higher fees.
For applications with a large number of claims or pages of the description some additional fees may be payable. For applications that have more than 35 pages of description, the excess page fee for each page of the description over 35 increases from £10 to £13, while the excess claim fee for each claim over 25 increases from £20 to £27.
For UK patent applications, no patent office annual renewal fees are due during the application process, and there is no grant or issue fee.
In our view the UK IPO provides offers value for money, balancing an in-depth search and examination against low official fees. The UK IPO is relatively quick to examine, and whilst examining tends to give the applicant the benefit of the doubt.
The UK IPO can therefore be beneficial where the UK IPO is selected as the office of first filing, or for applicants wishing to secure protection at a patent office in Europe without incurring further high additional official fees.
European Patent Office Fee Increases
The European Patent Office (EPO) will also increase its fees from 1 April 2026. This is the first increase in its fees since 2024.
The Official Search Fee, Examination Fee, Designation Fees, Excess Claims fees, and Renewal Fees will all increase by around 5%.
| Current Fee | New Fee | |
| Search Fee | €1520 | €1595 |
| Designation Fee | €685 | €720 |
| Examination Fee | €1915 | €2010 |
| Excess Claim Fee for each claim over 15 | €275 | €290 |
| Renewal Fee for the 3rd Year | €690 | €725 |
Not all fees are increasing however. For example, the Filing Fee and excess page fee for pages over 35, the Opposition Fee and Appeal Fees remain unchanged.
The EPO application process is intended to streamline the procedure for making patent applications to national patent offices in the European Patent Organisation. The patent office fees are therefore significantly higher than national patent offices, reflecting the wider potential geographical coverage, and a significantly higher quality of search and examination. The new fees are set out on the EPO webpage here.
More information on fees is available on the EPO website here.
The EPO operates a number of schemes under which the patent application can request a fee reduction. However, these will not be available to all applicants, and can occasionally introduce risk into the application process, if for example, the wrong amount of the fee is paid. More information is available here.
Our article on the micro-entity scheme is available here.
This article is for general information only. Its content is not a statement of the law on any subject and does not constitute advice. Please contact Reddie & Grose LLP for advice before taking any action in reliance on it.
