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Patent fees

Overview of patent fees

Type of fees	Amount
Application fee for electronic filing (including ten patent claims)	40 euros
- for each further claim the fee is increased by	20 euros
Application fee for paper-based filing (including ten patent claims)	60 euros
-for each further claim the fee is increased by	30 euros
Fee for search request	300 euros
Examination fee after a search request has been filed	150 euros
Examination fee without previous search request	350 euros
Annual fee for the 3rd patent year	70 euros
Annual fee for the 4th patent year	70 euros
Annual fee for the 5th patent year	100 euros
Annual fee for the 6th patent year	150 euros
Annual fee for the 7th to the 20th patent year	see information leaflet Information Concerning Costs, Fees and Expenses of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office and of the Federal Patent Court
Opposition proceedings	200 euros
The annual fees will be reduced by half, if a declaration on the willingness to grant licences to anyone is made, pursuant to Section 23(1) of the Patent Act (Patentgesetz).

• Detailed information on costs and fees is available in the information leaflet Information Concerning Costs, Fees and Expenses.
• The necessary forms and information leaflets are available for download at Forms.
• Information on payment transactions is available here.

Payment periods and notices

• After filing your patent application you will receive an acknowledgement of receipt with your file number. The DPMA does not send out any invoices or further fee notifications.
• Please make sure that the application fee is received at the DPMA within three months after the date of filing. Otherwise the application is deemed to be withdrawn by operation of law (Sec. 6(2) Patent Costs Act [Patentkostengesetz]).
• At the beginning of the third year you have to pay annual fees to maintain protection of your patent; you will not receive an invitation to pay the fees. The first annual fee is due on the last day of the month in which the respective term of protection ends (that means two years after filing the application). Then, you have two months to pay the due fee without surcharge and a further four months to pay the fee with a surcharge for late payment of 50 euros (see information leaflet Information Concerning Costs, Fees and Expenses).

• If the annual fee is not paid at all, not paid on time or not paid in full, the application is deemed to be withdrawn or the patent lapses.
• Advance payment of the annual fee may be made one year before expiry of the respective term of protection at the earliest.
• For applications of addition/patents of addition no annual fees have to be paid.
• In DPMAregister you will see when your patent is due for renewal. For patents which are still in force the next due date for fees is displayed in the list of master data, in the line “Due date”.

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PCT fees - international phase

Information on the fees for the international patent application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is available here. More information on the PCT application is available here.
Frequently asked questions on the fees for the international patent application under the PCT is available here.

PCT - fees from 1 April 2024

Filing option	Transmittal fee	International filing fee	Search fee	Total amount	Reduction Factored in
paper	90 euros	1,381 euros	1,845 euros	3,316 euros
electronic (request in XML - description and claims: PDF/TIFF)	90 euros	1,173 euros	1,845 euros	3,108 euros	208 euros
electronic (request in XML - description and claims: XML)	90 euros	1,070 euros	1,845 euros	3,005 euros	311 euros
The 31st sheet and each additional sheet	16 euros

Payment period

The transmittal fee, the search fee and the international filing fee shall be paid within one month from the date of the receipt of the international application (Art. III Sec.1(3) Act on International Patent Conventions [Gesetz über internationale Patentübereinkommen], Rules 14.1(c), 15.4(a) and 16.1(f) PCT Regulations).

Other additional fees in relation to a PCT application at the DPMA

Service	Amount
Official production of the priority document (separate invoice will be issued) Payment indicating the national file number	20 euros

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PCT fees - national phase

The respective applicable fees are determined according to the Patent Costs Act.

PCT fees - Entry into the national phase under at the DPMA

Type of fees	Amount
Filing fee for an application including up to ten patent claims (Fee number 311 150)	60 euros
Filing fee for an application including more than ten patent claims	60 euros
- for the eleventh and each further claim the fee is increased by (Fee number 311 160)	30 euros
Fee for examination request if an international search report has been established (Fee number 311 300)	150 euros
Fee for examination request if no international search report has been established (Fee number 311 400)	350 euros
Annual fee for the third year, pursuant to Section 17(1) Patent Act	70 euros

Notices

• The purpose of payment, i.e. fee number (see above) and the complete file number (PCT), must be indicated when making the payment for national phase entry.
• If you wish to renew protection of European patents (EP) in Germany (national phase), please always indicate the official German file number.

It is true that, for EP patents, as a rule, the indication of the European file number is equivalent to the indication of the German file number, but it means additional search work at payment transactions. The EP publication number should not be used, because it does not allow to run a plausibility check on the official file number.

• The number of patent claims of the international applications as originally filed determines the amount of the filing fee (see also frequently asked questions).

If the filing fee is not paid or not paid in full within 31 months from the priority date, the international application will forfeit the effect of a national application in Germany.

• Please note that no fee notifications/invitations to pay will be sent out. Processing of the examination request will not begin before the fee for the examination request has been paid.

Last updated: 2 July 2024