Renewing your patent

To keep your patent in force you must renew it on the 4th anniversary of the filing date and every year after that.  You can choose not to renew it or voluntarily cancel it at any time.

You can renew your patent up to 20 years.

You can renew your patent up to 3 months before the payment due date. This is the last day of the month in which the anniversary of filing falls. Therefore, If you applied on 10 May, your payment due date is 31 May each year.

How do I renew my patent?

To renew your patent, fill in Patents Form 12 (59Kb) and Fee sheet for: UK Designs, Patents, Trade Marks and PCT forms (45Kb) and send us the correct fee.

The renewal fees are as follows:

Send your completed forms and fee to:

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

What happens next?

We will write to confirm that we have renewed your patent for the next year.

What if I don't renew on time?

If you do not pay your renewal fee by the payment due date we will issue a reminder letter and you can still renew it up to 1 month after the payment due date at no extra charge.

You have a further 5 months in which to renew your patent.  However, there is a late payment fee of £24 for each of these months in addition to the renewal fee.

If you do not renew your patent within this 6 month period you can still apply to restore your patent.

Licence of right

If your patent is endorsed licence of right, you pay half the renewal fees.

Restoring your patent

After the 6-month late renewal period, you have 13 months where you can apply to restore your patent.

Late grant

If we grant your patent later than 3 years 9 months after the filing date, this is a late grant and special conditions apply.