Patents Renewal Reminders: change taking place on 6 April 2017
Published 6 April 2017
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1. Background
Patents must be renewed annually, starting from the fourth anniversary of filing and continuing up to a maximum of 20 years. Each renewal fee can be paid up to 3 months before, or 6 months after, the due date. (Late payment fees will apply if it is paid more than 1 month after the due date.) Renewal fees can be paid using our online renewals service or by post using Patents Form 12.
All patent owners must have provided an “address for service” where they can be contacted. However many choose to specify a different address for the handling of renewal fees. Often this is because they have chosen to appoint a specialist renewal agency to manage the renewal of their patent portfolios.
2. Practice before 6 April 2017
Where a renewal fee is not paid on time, the IPO sends a reminder to the registered owner (the “proprietor”) by post. Prior to 6 April 2017, this notice was sent to the address specified on the most recent Patents Form 12 (or any address notified by the proprietor for this purpose since that form was filed). In effect, this meant that the proprietor had to confirm the relevant renewal address each year on the Patents Form 12. Where no such address was given, the reminder was sent to the address for service shown on the Register.
3. Change in practice
From 6 April 2017, this reminder will be sent to the last address specified for this purpose by the proprietor - whenever that was. This means that, if you own a patent, you do not need to notify the IPO of an address in part 6 of Patents Form 12 every time you renew your patent. If there has been no change to the address to be used for renewal reminders, you simply leave that part of the form blank. You may also like to renew using the IPO’s online renewals service.
If you own a patent and would like the renewal reminder to be sent to a new or different postal address, you should write to the IPO. Alternatively, you can renew by post using Patents Form 12 and give the new address in part 6 of the Form. We will continue to use the address you have provided until you advise us of a change. Just as under the old practice, if you have never provided us with a specific address to be used for renewal reminders, we will default to sending them to the address for service shown on the Register.
4. Legislative background
This change in practice arises from a change to rule 39 of the Patents Rules 2007, which comes into force on 6 April 2017 (see the Patents (Amendment) (No.2) Rules 2016, PDF 55.7KB for further details).