List of claim surcharges in various countries around the world

• U.K:
  • In April 2018, the UKIPO began to charge a claim surcharge. For UK patent applications with more than 25 claims, a claim surcharge of £20 will be charged for each claim starting from the 26th claim.
• Canada:
  • Canada will begin collecting claim surcharges from October 3, 2022. When an applicant files a request for substantive examination, if there are more than 20 claims, a surcharge of 100 Canadian dollars will be charged for each claim starting from the 21st claim.
  • The most important change in Canada's current amendment is that it allows applicants to file a request for continued examination (RCE) to respond to the third examination report and every second examination report thereafter. Submitting an RCE requires a fee of more than 800 Canadian dollars, and small entity applicants can enjoy discounts.
• Some Middle Eastern countries including Mexico and Qatar
  • No additional claim fee is charged. No additional claim fee is charged.
• Australia
  • The title fee is payable only upon grant.
  • Countries such as Australia do not charge fees based on the number of claims in a patent application before the application is granted. Applicants can make proactive amendments before the grant to reduce the claim surcharge, but applicants need to consider the attorney's hourly rate for proactive amendments at the same time.
• United Kingdom, Brazil, Israel, Japan, South Korea and Canada
  • The above countries require the payment of claim fee when filing a request for substantive examination.
• Eurasian Patent Office, India, European Patent Office, China, etc.
  • All of the above countries require the payment of claim fees when filing a patent application.
  • The Eurasian Patent Office allows voluntary amendments to be filed in new applications to reduce additional claim fees.
  • The Indian Patent Office allows deletion of claims in new applications, but amendments are subject to conditions.
  • The European Patent Office (EPO) requires claim fees to be paid when a new application is filed, but also issues a notice during the regional phase of an international application where such fees have not been paid, which specifies time limits for paying the fees and/or filing voluntary amendments that may reduce the fees payable.
  • In China, the claim surcharge for PCT applications is based on the published text of the PCT international application. Even if the number of claims is reduced after entering the Chinese national phase, the claim surcharge cannot be reduced accordingly.

Due to differences in patent application practices between countries and regions, applicants need to consider the number of claims in their applications at the drafting stage of their patent applications. For countries that allow active amendments before paying the claim surcharge, applicants may consider deleting the number of claims while entering the country, or, where permitted, combining claim features on an alternative or optional basis so that the text of the original claims is retained in the application. For countries where amendments are not possible, care should be taken when drafting new applications to avoid claim formats that are not permitted, or claims that have no commercial value, or claims that provide a basis for active amendments during the examination period, in order to minimize the cost of application fees.