The costs of drafting, filing and granting of the European patent application as a unitary patent are identical to those for a “classic” European patent. However, a translation of a unitary patent must be made available after grant in an EU language other than English, if the patent has been granted in English, or into English, if the patent has been granted in French or German. These translation costs can amount to several hundred to several thousand euros, depending on the length of the translation required. The main difference, however, lies in the cost of renewal fees: when patent protection is desired in more than four European countries, a unitary patent is obviously cheaper. Especially when this unitary patent remains valid for a long time: if a unitary patent is maintained for a full 20 years in all participating EU countries, for example, the costs of renewal fees are ultimately about 60% lower than with validation of a “ classic” European patent in these EU countries (a difference of easily several thousand to tens of thousands of euros).
