PATENT FILING IN UK

The United Kingdom is one of the most ancient countries having a patent system since the early 1400s. In 1449, the United Kingdom granted the first patent. The PatentOffice of the United Kingdom was set up in 1852. Since 2 April 2007, the Intellectual Property Office of the United Kingdom is operating with the name of The Patent Office. It has direct administrative responsibility for examining and issuing or rejecting patents. The United Kingdom has always focused on encouraging inventions, for which it has made amendments to its policies regularly. This has resulted in the boosting of the patent industry, due to which the United Kingdom witnessed over 22,000 patent applications in the year 2015. With continuous efforts of the legislature of the United Kingdom, these numbers are expected to increase further in the coming years, and the same is evident by the patent statistics for 2018. With the vision of the UK government for boosting patent filings, GPF is dedicated to providing a one-stop solution for all the requirements of patent filings. GPF can assist in efficiently and promptly filing patent applications using accurate translations. GPF, along with Khurana & Khurana, Advocates and IP Attorneys (K&K), has tremendous experience in dealing with patent filing/prosecution as per UK Patent Laws and can assist in hand-holding  through the complete prosecution lifecycle of a patent.

High Level Cost Estimate for Filing
Description
Price
Official Fee
$ 252
Attorney Fee
$ 700
Total
$ 952

Documents Required
  • Power of Attorney.
  • Declaration to be submitted by the Applicant/Inventor.
  • PCT Application Details/ Priority Application Details.
  • Fee Correspondence document.
Filing to Grant Procedure
1
STEP 1 : FILING

A patent can be filed in the UK in any of the following formats:

  • Paris Convention based national entry.

  • PCT National Phase based national entry.

2
STEP 2 : PUBLICATION

  • Publication of UK patents is done within 18 months of the priority date.

3
STEP 3 : EXAMINATION

  • Request for examination has to be made within 6 months from the date of publication. It is also possible to request accelerated examination under PPH.

4
STEP 4 : PROSECUTION

Application is to be put in order for allowance within :

  • 2 months if the first Examination Report is issued in more than 3 ½ years from the filing date

  • 4 months  if the first Examination Report is issued in less than 3 ½ years from the filing date.

5
STEP 5 : GRANT

  • Annuity for the 4th year onwards is to be paid after grant of the patent. Protection of the patent is for 20 years from the International Filing Date.