EAPO / Documents / Memo for patent owners and their representatives on the payment of annual fees for the maintenance of Eurasian patents

Samples of payment documents for payment of annual fee through the Savings Bank of Russia with bank details of the Eurasian Patent Organization in the Closed Joint Stock Company UniCredit Bank

Samples of payment documents for payment of annual fee through the Savings Bank of Russia with bank details of the Eurasian Patent Organization in the Moscow branch of Closed Joint Stock Company Raiffeinsenbank)

Amount of fee for change of representative.

Abbreviations:

Memo for patent owners and their representatives on the payment of annual fees for the maintenance of the Eurasian patent - Memo

Member states of the Eurasian patent convention - states

Eurasian Patent Convention - EAPC

Eurasian Patent Office - EAPO

Eurasian patent - patent

Eurasian application – application

Maintenance of the effect of the Eurasian patent – patent maintenance

Patent regulations to the Eurasian Patent Convention – Patent Regulations

Statute on fees of the Eurasian Patent Organization – Statute on fees

Request for the maintenance of a Eurasian patent - Request

GENERAL

1.1. The present memo is intended for patent owners and their representatives and is aimed at the systematization of maintenance fees payment for the purpose of observance of the time limits and amounts of payments.

1.2. The Memo is based on the norms of the EAPC, the Patent Regulations and the Statute on Fees.

PREREQUISITES FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF EURASIAN PATENTS

2.1. For the maintenance of a patent, the states, in which the patent owner wishes to maintain the patent, are to be designated (Art. 17(3) EAPC) and the fees are to be paid in accordance with the designations (Art. 17(3) EAPC).

2.2. The designations shall be made by the patent owner (Art. 17(3) EAPC) or his representative (Art. 15(12) EAPC), whose authority shall be confirmed by a power of attorney (Rule 30(1) Patent Regulations).

2.3. The fee may be paid by either the patent owner himself, or by any person on his request (Rule 30(6) Patent Regulations).

2.4. The fee shall be paid through EAPO (Par.1(3) Statute on Fees).

DUE DATES FOR MAINTENANCE FEES PAYMENT

3.1. In accordance with Article 17 (2) of the EAPC, fees shall be paid annually after the patent grant on the date corresponding to the date of application filing.

3.2. In cases, when the time period between patent grant and the first due date for maintenance fee payment is less than two months, the fee may be paid within two months after the date which corresponds to the application filing date (Par.10(1), subparagraph four, Statute on Fees).

3.3. The fee may be paid in several stages by adding new designated states in which the patent is to be maintained (Rule 40(7), paragraph two, Patent Regulations). The last payment of the fee shall not be later than the date, stated in par. 3.1 and 3.2 hereunder.

3.4. The fee may be paid within a grace period of six months, calculated from the date of the patent lapse (Rule 40(7), Patent Regulations). In such case the amount of the fee for the latest omitted year of patent maintenance shall be increased by 50% (Par. 10(1), subparagraph five, Statute on Fees).

EFFECT OF FAILURE TO OBSERVE DUE DATES OR AMOUNTS OF ANNUAL FEE PAYMENT

4.1. In the event that the amount of the paid fee does not correspond to the required amount, the EAPO shall send a communication about the required additional payment and shall give a three months period to effect the payment (Par. 10(1) Statute on Fees).

4.2. If a document, certifying the payment of the fee in the required amount fails to be presented, the patent, in accordance with Rule 56(1) of the Patent Regulations shall be terminated (Par. 10(1), subparagraph eight, Statute on Fees).

CURRENCY AND AMOUNT OF ANNUAL FEE FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF A EURASIAN PATENT

5.1. The currency and the fee amount shall be established by the states and are provided in Annex 1. (The currency and amount of the fee may vary in accordance with the national laws of the states).

5.2. The amount of the fee shall be established as the sum total of fees for the respective year(s) of patent maintenance in the states designated by the patent owner (Par. 10 (1), subparagraph one, Statute on Fees).

5.3. Payment of the fee shall be in an amount current on the date of the payment (Par. 1 (4), Statute on Fees). The date of payment shall be the date on which the money is transferred from the account of the payer or the date of fee payment through a bank.

5.4 Settlements with EAPO on fee payments may be effected in Russian Rubles, US Dollars or Euros (Par. 1 (4), Statute on Fees).

5.5. Payment shall be at the rate of the Central Bank of Russia for the payment currency in respect to the fee currency on the payment date (Par. 1 (4), Statute on Fees).

DOCUMENTS TO BE PROVIDED TO THE EURASIAN PATENT OFFICE WHEN PAYING ANNUAL FEES FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF EURASIAN PATENTS

6.1. To maintain the patent the patent owner or his representative shall fill in a request form (Annex 2), designating each state where the patent owner wants to maintain the patent (Article 17(3) EAPC).

A document, certifying the payment of the fee, shall be attached to the request. It may be a copy of a payment order, receipt from a savings bank or other credit institution (Par.12, Statute on Fees). A power of attorney, certifying the authority of the representative shall also be attached, if it wasn’t presented earlier.

In the event of change of the patent owner’s representative, a fee for the change of representative shall be paid (Par. 6(6) and Par. 1(5), Statute on Fees) (Annex 6), and a document confirming the payment of such fee shall be presented to the EAPO.

All the above documents shall be submitted to the EAPO.

The request and the payment document shall be related to the same patent (Par. 12(3), Statute on Fees). Bank details of the Eurasian Patent Organization for the purposes of fee payments are given in Annex 3.

Samples of receipts from the savings bank for settlements in cash within the Russian Federation in the Closed Joint Stock Company UniCredit Bank and in the Moscow branch of Closed Joint Stock Company Raiffeinsenbank are provided in Annexes 4 and 5.

6.2. During the first and the following fee payment new forms of requests shall be filled in.

DUE DATES FOR PRESENTATION OF ANNUAL FEE PAYMENT DOCUMENTS TO THE EURASIAN PATENT OFFICE

A document, certifying the fee payment, shall be presented to the EAPO not later than within three months form the payment date stated on it (Par. 12(2), Statute on Fees).

REQUEST FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF A EURASIAN PATENT

The request shall indicate the patent number, application number, application filing date, fee payment due date and year(s) for which the payment is made (Annex 2).

The request shall indicate the amount of the paid fee for the respective year(s) of patent maintenance in respect to each of the designated states (Annex 1), and in the event of change of representative, the request shall also indicate the amount of fee paid for the change of the patent owner’s representative (Annex 6).

The request shall also indicate the person in charge of the patent maintenance, address for correspondence and other details that would allow to contact this person, it shall be signed by this person and dated.

THE EURASIAN PATENT ORGANIZATION WEB SITE

All the forms for fee payments can be found at the EAPO web site. In the Section “Register. Fee payment” – “Payment of annual fees”, a request form can be drawn up automatically for a specific patent.

page top

hotline@eapo.org