What are late grants and how do they affect your patent renewal?
Late Grants
In the UK, if your patent was granted later than three years and nine months after the original filing date (or if the publication date of a patent granted through the EPO is after the same cut-off), it is considered as a late grant and special rules apply surrounding the first renewal payment.
Impact on Patent Renewals
The renewal window is pushed back so that a payment window of at least three months still exists, starting on the date of the grant, and ending at the end of the month three months later.
If the patent application was made for a GB patent (as opposed to an European, EP, application), then no renewal fees were paid during the application stage. UK fees are due from the 4th anniversary of filing of granted patent. For late grants, the fees of all past anniversaries become due immediately.
If the application was processed through the European Patent Office, then renewal fees will have been paid throughout the application, so there is no accumulation of historic fees due.
RenewalsDesk takes late grants into account when calculating the renewal fee and payment window for you patent.