By Christopher P. Singer --
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sent out an e-mail alert on March 26,
2010 advising that it has been informed by the International Bureau of the
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that the European Patent Office
(EPO) will decrease its search fee when acting as the International Search
Authority (ISA). The fee change
will become effective on April 1, 2010. The EPO currently charges $2515 to act as the ISA. According to the e-mail announcement,
as of April 1, 2010 the EPO will charge $2485 to act the ISA. A revised PCT Fee Schedule will be made
available here.
Of course, April 1, 2010 also marks the effective
date of the more substantive changes to EPO rules, including revisions to divisional
application filing requirements, mandatory responses to EPO-issued search
reports and opinions, and additional requirements relating to amending
applications. A brief overview of
those three particular rule changes can be found here.
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