Annual renewal fee

Maintenance fees or renewal fees are fees that are paid to maintain a granted patent in force. Some patent laws require the payment of maintenance fees for pending patent applications. Not all patent laws require the payment of maintenance fees and different laws provide different regulations concerning not only the amount payable but also the regularity of the payments. In countries where maintenance fees are to be paid annually, they are sometimes called patent annuities.

Research is indicating that renewal fees can be used to improve the innovation incentives generated by patent rights.

Article 5bis of the Paris Convention requires that parties to the Convention should provide a six-month grace period for paying maintenance fees:

International patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty are not subject to the payment of maintenance fees. However, maintenance fees may fall due to designated/elected national and regional offices. If renewal fees have become due by the time the national phase could start, they must be paid before the expiration of the time limit applicable for entering the national phase.

In Canada, maintenance fees for a patent application, or a patent issued from the application, are due on each anniversary of the filing date of the application, beginning on the second anniversary. The amount due each year escalates during the life of the patent or patent application.

If the maintenance fee is not paid (by the applicant or agent of record) by the due date with respect to a patent application, the application is deemed abandoned. The abandoned application may be reinstated within 12 months of the date of abandonment, by filing a request for reinstatement with payment of the maintenance fee that is due and the reinstatement fee.

The maintenance fee for a patent may be paid within a one-year grace period after the due date, with the payment of a late fee. If the required fee has not been paid when the grace period expires, the patent lapses.

No annuity (maintenance) fees need to be paid while applications are pending. Once granted of the patent maintenance fees are due based on the anniversary of application date. The unpaid fees while the patent was pending have to be paid on grant.

Renewal fees are payable to the European Patent Office in respect of pending European patent applications in respect of the third year from the date of filing. These fees are paid in advance of the year in which they are due (such that the renewal fee for the third year falls due two years from the date of filing) and fall due on the last day of the month containing the anniversary of the date of filing. Renewal fees may not be validly paid more than three months before they fall due, except for the third renewal fee which can be paid up to six months before its due date (in accordance with amended Rule 51(1) EPC entering into force in April 2018).

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Wikipedia