Costs for patents in Europe for software or online-service

Question

I'm currently not entirely sure if I can get a patent on my "idea" at all, yet I think I might, but if so I wouldn't know at the moment in what kind of group my patent would be considered in.

However, I'm having this kind of idea that works on a larger scale and has a higher chance of failure if kept on a smaller scale because .. if the idea is good a big business with a lot of resources will eat me faster than I would feel comfortable with.

I am not sure if an "online-service" falls into another group than just plain software applications - imho it should but I really have no idea about patents to be honest. At least not yet.

So how can I find the information about the costs for a patent? How much do I have to pay if it gets rejected and how much if it gets accepted? Or do I just pay for the actual work and therefore always the same amount no matter what?

Answer 1

There are two parts to the costs: official fees and attorney fees.

Official fees

Current EPO fees can be found here.

The important fees for you are the filing fee, search fee, designation fee, and examination fee (€4215 at present, though these change annually I think). These are due relatively early on in the process. There are also ongoing annual renewal fees from the third year onwards.

Attorney fees

The only way to get an idea of attorney costs is to ask an attorney.

However, you can expect there will be a cost for the initial drafting, then fees for every event during the life of the application. There is a massive variation here depending on the type of invention and the attorney you use, so I can't really give you any accurate amounts. However, as a broad guide, anywhere from €1,000–15,000 for the drafting could be possible. Ongoing prosecution might be anywhere from €500–4000 for each response. 2–3 responses before a decision would be usual.

How much do I have to pay if it gets rejected and how much if it gets accepted?

As you guessed, you pay for the actual work, so it's basically the same. While I guess it's possible an attorney might consider some kind of contingency fee, I've never heard of this actually happening.

The only difference is that if your application is granted, you will need to pay for the grant procedure, along with renewal fees for each of the countries you wish your European patent to be effective in.