Editing Unitary patent (section)

== Costs ==
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{| style="border:solid 1px #aaa;" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0"
|+Yearly renewal fee for the unitary patent
|-
| <timeline>
ImageSize = width:auto height:180 barincrement:40
PlotArea = left:50 bottom:15 top:10 right:18
AlignBars = justify
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:0 till:5000
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1000 start:0
PlotData=
  color:skyblue width:40
  bar:2 from:start till:35 text:€ 35
  bar:3 from:start till:105 text:€ 105
  bar:4 from:start till:145 text:€ 145
  bar:5 from:start till:315 text:€ 315   
  bar:6 from:start till:475 text:€ 475
  bar:7 from:start till:630 text:€ 630
  bar:8 from:start till:815 text:€ 815
  bar:9 from:start till:990 text:€ 990
  bar:10 from:start till:1175 text:€ 1175
  bar:11 from:start till:1460 text:€ 1460
  bar:12 from:start till:1775 text:€ 1775
  bar:13 from:start till:2105 text:€ 2105
  bar:14 from:start till:2455 text:€ 2455
  bar:15 from:start till:2830 text:€ 2830   
  bar:16 from:start till:3240 text:€ 3240
  bar:17 from:start till:3640 text:€ 3640
  bar:18 from:start till:4055 text:€ 4055
  bar:19 from:start till:4455 text:€ 4455
  bar:20 from:start till:4855 text:€ 4855
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|}
</div>The renewal fees are planned to be based on the cumulative renewal fees  due in the four countries where European patents were most often validated in 2015 (Germany, France, the UK and the Netherlands).<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Office |first=European Patent |title=Cost of a Unitary Patent |url=https://www.epo.org/law-practice/unitary/unitary-patent/cost.html |access-date=2022-03-09 |website=www.epo.org |language=en |archive-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217144625/https://www.epo.org/law-practice/unitary/unitary-patent/cost.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> This is despite the UK leaving the unitary patent system following Brexit. The renewal fees of the unitary patent would thus be ranging from 35 Euro in the second year to 4855 in the 20th year. The renewal fees will be collected by the EPO, with the EPO keeping 50% of the fees and the other 50% being redistributed to the participating member states.

Translation requirements as well as the requirement to pay yearly patent maintenance fees in individual countries presently renders the European patent system costly to obtain protection in the whole of the European Union.

In an impact assessment from 2011, the European Commission estimated that the costs of obtaining a patent in all 27 EU countries would drop from over 32 000 euro (mainly due to translation costs) to 6 500 euro (for the combination of an EU, Spanish and Italian patent) due to introduction of the Unitary patent. Per capita costs of an EU patent were estimated at just 6 euro/million in the original 25 participating countries (and 12 euro/million in the 27 EU countries for protection with a Unitary, Italian and Spanish patent).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/indprop/docs/patent/sec2011-482-final_en.pdf|title=IMPACT ASSESSMENT Accompanying document to the Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the creation of unitary patent protection and Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the creation of unitary patent protection with regard to the applicable translation arrangements|work=European Commission|page=36|date=13 April 2012|access-date=30 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120813053300/http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/indprop/docs/patent/sec2011-482-final_en.pdf|archive-date=13 August 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

How the EU Commission has presented the expected cost savings has however been sharply criticized as exaggerated and based on unrealistic assumptions. The EU Commission has notably considered the costs for validating a European patent in 27 countries while in reality only about 1% of all granted European patents are currently validated in all 27 EU states. Based on more realistic assumptions, the cost savings are expected to be much lower than actually claimed by the commission.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.platow.de/eu-patent--kostenreduzierungen-deutlich-uebertrieben/4444686.html |title=EU-Patent – Kostenreduzierungen deutlich übertrieben |last=Rox |first=Thomas |date=5 June 2013 |website=platow.de |language=de |trans-title=EU Patent - Cost reductions clearly exaggerated |access-date=3 July 2013 |archive-date=4 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504001520/http://www.platow.de/eu-patent--kostenreduzierungen-deutlich-uebertrieben/4444686.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> For example, the EPO calculated that for an average EP patent validated and maintained in 4 countries, the overall savings to be  between 3% and 8%.<ref name=":2" />