Apply for a patent

Use this service to apply for a UK patent through the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).

Patents are expensive and difficult to get. Read the guide to patenting your invention if you’ve not applied before.

If you register European patents frequently (including in the UK), use European Patent Office online services. You’ll need an IPO account.

Fees

You need to pay fees to apply for a patent.

You can pay the fees online with a credit or debit card, or by using an IPO account.

It costs more to apply for a patent by email or post. If you want to pay by cheque, cash or bank transfer, you must apply by post and pay the higher fee.

You can wait until after you apply to request and pay for your search and examination. You can also pay the application fee later but it costs more.

Apply for a patent

You’ll need an email address to apply online.

Sometimes the service is unavailable between 1am and 3am (UK time).

You cannot use this service if your invention is military technology or could harm national security.

on the Intellectual Property Office service

Before you start

Read the guide to patenting your invention if you’ve not applied before. This will give you details of:

• supporting documents you must prepare - the PDFs you upload for your application must not be more than 20MB in total
• search and examination requests - if you choose to include them now

Other ways to apply

You can also apply for a UK patent by post or email by completing a request for grant of a patent form.

You need to pay fees to apply for a patent. These fees are higher when you send your form by email or post.

Send your form by email

Download, print and fill in the form. You’ll need to scan the completed form and email it with your supporting documents to forms@ipo.gov.uk.

Send your form by post

Download, print and fill in the form. You’ll need to post your completed form and supporting documents to:

Intellectual Property Office
Concept House
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8QQ
United Kingdom