Renewal Procedure and Patent Annual Fees from the Austrian Patent Office (Das Österreichische Patentamt)
An informational summary of the patent renewal rules in place for Austrian patents.
Renewal Years
Renewal fees only become due on Austrian patents once they have been granted and published in the local patent gazette (Österreichisches Patentblatt). The requirement to pay fees starts fairly late on in the patent’s life – with the fee due for the sixth year being the first. After that, fees are due annually.
Renewal Dates & Payment Windows
The renewal date is based on the patent’s filing date. Fees fall due each year on the last day of the month in which the filing date’s anniversary falls. So, for example, if the filing date of the patent was 15th April, the renewal deadline would be the 30th April each year (after grant, from the sixth year onwards).
Fees must be paid in advance, so the sixth year fee must be paid before the deadline that falls at the beginning of the sixth year. This is the deadline falling around the fifth anniversary of filing.
There is a three month window leading up to the renewal date in which fees can be paid.
Late Payments
It’s possible to miss the renewal deadline and still make the payment to avoid the patent lapsing. There is a sixth month window that follow the renewal date in which the patent holder can pay the missed fee along with a penalty late fee. The late fee is calculated as 20% of the renewal fee due and must be paid in addition to the renewal fee itself.
Updates
Note that new fees apply from 1st July 2014. These are detailed below.
Renewal Fee Schedule
Fees listed are in Euro.
| For Patent Year | Patent Annual Fee |
|---|---|
| 6 | 104 |
| 7 | 208 |
| 8 | 313 |
| 9 | 417 |
| 10 | 522 |
| 11 | 626 |
| 12 | 731 |
| 13 | 835 |
| 14 | 940 |
| 15 | 1044 |
| 16 | 1148 |
| 17 | 1253 |
| 18 | 1357 |
| 19 | 1566 |
| 20 | 1775 |