Inventors, businesses and organizations looking to apply for patent protection in Europe have three routes to choose from.

a) National Routes – filing directly with the national patent office of each individual country;

b) The European Patent Convention (EPC) Route – filing with the European Patent Organisation (EPO) directly and then having your patent validated in the designated EPO member states; or

c) The International Route – Filing a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application and then selecting the EPO as designated or elected office 

The national route is the traditional route, which allows applicants to apply directly to the National Office of the country in which they wish to obtain patent protection. When applicants wish to extend their patent protection throughout Europe, this route becomes increasingly burdensome, costly and time consuming.

To help applicants attain patent protection throughout Europe, the European Patent Convention (EPC) created a simplified procedure allowing applicants to file a single application and to proceed through one examination-and-grant phase for obtaining a European Patent: the EPC Route.

This EPC procedure was deliberated to afford more cost effective and straightforward protection for inventions in the EPC contracting states.

This procedure, however, has not superseded the national grant procedures of the EPC member states. As a result, an applicant seeking patent protection in an EPC contracting state has a choice between applying directly to the national office or applying for protection using the EPC route. Using the EPC route, the applicant will then, upon grant of the application, be rewarded with a European Patent, which he will then designate to the individual EPC member states of his choice.

In addition to the above two routes, an applicant who wishes to extend his/her patent protection internationally, has another choice of route, namely the International Route. Choosing the EURO-PCT route, the applicant will first file his/her application in terms of the Patent Cooperation Treaty, after which the application will enter into the European (EPC) phase.
The specific route a prospective applicant chooses will depend on the marketability of the invention, the type of coverage desired, and the legal title sought. To help you decide which route is more suited for your specific invention, let's have a glance at the specifics of each route.

A) National Route

For applicants who plan to apply for patent protection in a few European countries only (4 or less, usually), it might be more cost-and-time efficient to apply to the individual countries separately and have the invention prosecuted in the elected countries.

Applicants may choose this route if they intend not to have their patent enforced throughout the whole of Europe. When electing the countries for which you wish to have protection, it is important to consider the following:

1) Which European countries represent the major markets for your invention?
2) Into which European countries do you intend to expand?
3) In which European countries are your competitors represented?
4) Which European countries are most likely to be used by infringers for the import of infringing products (patents in such countries are necessary for seizure of infringing products)?

Patent applications are filed and prosecuted in each country separately and usually an applicant will appoint a separate legal representative for each individual country. This procedure may become burdensome (and expensive) when choosing more than 3 or 4 EPO member states.

For the purpose of cost comparison, we have selected 3 major economic powers in Europe to illustrate the cost of obtaining National Patents.

The following are the basic official fees at the UK, French, and German Patent Offices:

 
* Cost for e-filing used, which is discounted
** 50% discount in case of a declaration of willingness to license
*** Fees for additional claims not included

B) EPC Route

When an applicant has decided on patent coverage throughout the whole of Europe, or for the majority of Europe, the EPC route is definitely the cheapest and most streamlined method.

The EPO simplifies patent prosecution for its member states in that it only requires ONE application to be filed, searched and examined in ONE language EPO official languages are English, French, and German). Once the EPO indicates that it has decided to grant the application, the Applicant is required to ONLY supply the EPO with a translation of the title and claims of the application in the three official languages.

Upon grant of an EPO patent, the applicant receives a "bundle of patent rights".
This means that, once the EPO has granted the application, the applicant will be able to select in which EPO member countries it wishes to have its patent enforced. In order to receive a National patent, the applicant will have to submit a copy of his/her EPO patent to the various National Patent Offices, pay the necessary fees – if required, and submit translations of the claims or description or both or none – depending on the status of the member state with regards to the London Agreement .      

The following table contains the basic fees for applying for a patent at the EPO.

C) International Route

In addition to the EPC Route, European Patents can also be granted based on an international application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

The PCT is an international patent law treaty providing a single procedure for filing patent applications in each of its contracting states. A PCT application can be filed with a receiving office (any member state) or it can be filed directly with the International Bureau in Geneva.

All PCT contracting states are automatically designated upon filing. The effect of filing a PCT application is that the international (PCT) filing date is accorded as filing date in the member states (permitted that the application meets the requirements of the treaty).

The international application needs to be filed in one language only, although translations may be required for the purpose of the international search, which depends on the language of filing and the International Searching Authority used.

After filing the PCT application, an international search is then conducted by an authorized International Searching Authority (ISA). The task of the ISA is to search, find, and cite the most relevant prior art documents relating to the subject matter claimed in the invention. Finally the ISA will issue an International Search Report (ISR) and a Search Opinion regarding patentability. This opinion is valuable, since the applicant can use it to decide whether or not, and in which countries, it wishes to proceed with national protection.

Publication of the international application is done 18 months after the filing date or priority date. Within 30 months from the filing date or priority date, the International phase ends and the patent will have to enter into the national/regional phase before expiry of this time. The EPO has, however, decided to extend this time limit with an additional month for a total of 31 months.

Below are some basic costs for filing a PCT application as from the 1^st of January 2011:

In Conclusion

The explanations of the three possible routes above are meant to be an introduction and in no way a complete explanation of each system.

Furthermore, please note that no one system is "better" than the other – the best route should be chosen on a case-by-case basis depending on the specific circumstances of each invention.

References to cost DO NOT include legal fees to patent attorneys and they only refer to the basic minimum fees to be anticipated.