Upcoming fee increases
On 21 July 2025, IPOS announced increases to some of its official fees, with some increases coming into force on 1 September 2025, and other increases coming into force on 1 April 2026. Read IPOS’ announcement. The headline changes relate to:
Quantum of excess claim fees
Each excess claim will incur an official fee of US$65 when requesting examination from 1 September 2025 onwards, a doubling of the current fee level.
Lower number of claims that are not subject to the excess claim fees
Each claim from the 16th claim onwards will be subject to the excess claim fee when requesting examination from 1 September 2025 onwards, instead of from the 21st claim onwards as per current practice.
Alteration of when excess claim fees are payable
For applications where examination is requested from 1 September 2025, excess claim fees will be payable when requesting examination, and, with effect from 1 April 2026, upon responding to each written opinion issued if the number of excess claims is increased per response. Given the prosecution timelines at IPOS, it is unlikely that a written opinion will issue before 1 April 2026 when examination is requested from 1 September 2025.
In addition, excess claim fees will no longer be payable when requesting grant.
What about examination deadlines that have been voluntarily extended?
The new fees will apply based on the date on which examination is requested and not the original deadline.
So what strategies are available to me to reduce or avoid these increased fees?
- Request examination before 1 September 2025. This ensures that the status quo is maintained and an application(s) will not be subject to any increased official fees or new excess claim provisions.
- Request GPPH/PPH (if you can) in an effort to receive the first written opinion before the second round of changes are implemented on 1 April 2026
- Amend the claims when requesting examination; you may wish to align your claims with those of the corresponding EP patent application given the identical excess claim threshold of 15 claims for EP patents.
- One should not be shortsighted and disregard the importance of dependent claims. But consider deleting some of the dependent claims when requesting examination and add them back in during prosecution. That way, you can stagger the claim fee costs.
