The search fee for US applicants at the EPO will increase on September 1, 2017. The search fee is presently $1992 but will increase to $2099. Here is how the search fees will rank after the fee change:
- EP – $2099
- US – $2080
- AU – $1688
- SG – $1552
- JP – $1372
- KR – $1114
- US – $1040 (small entity)
- IL – $963
- US – $520 (micro entity)
- RU – $482
As you can see, with this fee change, EP will again retain its long-standing status of being the most expensive of the searching authorities available to PCT filers in RO/US. The cheapest ISA is still ISA/RU.
Which searching authorities are readers using these days? Please post a comment with your thoughts about various searching authorities and why you might or might not pick a particular ISA.
Carl, good to know… do you have a source link to the official notice regarding the upcoming fee increase.
http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/pct/en/fees.pdf
Carl, Thanks for your reply. I find it odd that the WIPO would bury a patent fee increase into a pdf document.