How to file a UK patent application (UKIPO)

What you need to file

A complete application contains a request for grant, a specification made up of a description, one or more claims and any drawings referred to, and an abstract (s. 14(2)). The specification has to disclose the invention clearly and completely enough for a skilled person to carry it out, and the claims must be clear, concise, supported by the description and relate to one inventive concept (s. 14(3) and (5)).

The filing date needs much less. Under s. 15(1), it is the first day on which the IPO has documents that indicate a patent is sought, identify the applicant (or let the IPO contact them) and contain something that is or looks like a description, or a reference to an earlier application. The description does not have to be in English to get the date (s. 15(2)), but anything filed in another language must be followed by an English translation (rule 113). This is what makes the UK useful as a quick first filing: a well-written description filed today secures priority for the next 12 months.

Three practical points catch overseas applicants:

• Address for service. Every applicant must give an address for service in the United Kingdom, Gibraltar or the Channel Islands (rule 103). In practice that usually means a UK patent attorney.
• Inventorship. If the applicant is not the sole inventor, for example a company, file a statement of inventorship on Patents Form 7 within 16 months of the filing or priority date (rule 10).
• Fee pages. The examination fee counts pages of description over 35, and the search fee counts claims over 25. Long US-style specifications with 40 claims cost noticeably more.

Search (Form 9A) and examination (Form 10)

Nothing substantive happens until you ask for it. The IPO's combined form covers Patents Forms 1, 7, 9A and 10, so you can make every request at filing, but you do not have to.

• Form 9A, search. The claims, the abstract, the application fee and the search request with its fee are all due by the end of the "relevant period": 12 months from filing, or, where priority is claimed, 12 months from the priority date or 2 months from filing if that ends later (s. 15(10) and rule 22). Miss them and the application is treated as withdrawn.
• Form 10, examination. The request for substantive examination is due within 6 months of publication (rule 28(2)). Since publication normally comes at 18 months, that is roughly 2 years after the priority date.

The IPO aims to send the search report within about six months of the request (IPO fast grant guidance). If you file the search early, the report arrives well inside the priority year, which is the main reason applicants use a UK first filing as a cheap patentability check before deciding on European, PCT or US filings.

Once examination starts, the application must be put in order for grant within the compliance period: 4 years and 6 months from the filing or priority date, or 12 months from the first examination report if that is later (rule 30). A patent cannot be granted until three months after publication, to leave time for third-party observations.

UKIPO patent fees from 1 April 2026

The IPO raised its fees by an average of 25% on 1 April 2026, the first increase for patents since 2018 (IPO announcement). The amounts below are the "new fee" column of the IPO's patent fee list, and the forms on the patent forms and fees page were revised for the same date. What you pay depends on the day you pay, not the day the deadline falls.

The Form 34 grant fee is only payable if the IPO asks for it, which happens when amendments push the claims over 25 or the description over 35 pages after you paid the search and examination fees (IPO).

Worked example

A company files online with 30 claims and a 40-page description, and requests search and examination together:

• Application fee: £75
• Search fee: £200
• 5 excess claims at £27: £135
• Examination fee: £130
• 5 excess pages at £13: £65

Total official fees: £605. Trimming to 25 claims and 35 pages would bring that back to £405.

Timeline of a UK application

The patent takes effect when the grant is published in the journal and lasts up to 20 years from the filing date (s. 25(1)), provided the renewal fees are paid.

The Green Channel and other ways to go faster

The IPO offers more ways to accelerate than most offices, and none of them carries a fee (Patents: accelerated processing).

• Combined search and examination (CSE). File Forms 9A and 10 together and the examiner examines at the same time as searching. No reasons needed. The IPO says you will normally get both reports within six months of the requests.
• Accelerated search or examination. Requested in your IPO account with reasons specific to the application: a known infringer, an investor who wants a granted patent, or a planned PPH request abroad. The IPO's target is to act on an allowed request within 2 months in 90% of cases.
• Green Channel. Running since 12 May 2009. If the invention has an environmental benefit, say so in writing and name the steps to accelerate: search, examination, both combined, or publication. A solar panel or wind turbine needs a one-line statement; an energy-saving manufacturing process needs more explanation. The IPO does not investigate the claim, but refuses requests that are clearly unfounded.
• PCT(UK) Fast Track. For PCT applications entering the UK national phase whose claims were found acceptable in the international preliminary report or the ISA's written opinion.
• Patent Prosecution Highway. If another office has allowed corresponding claims, including under the Global PPH, which covers the USPTO, the JPO, KIPO, CIPO and the DPMA among others.
• Accelerated publication. No reasons needed once the search is done and formalities are met. Publication follows in about six weeks, which matters because grant cannot come earlier than three months after publication.

Request all three of CSE, accelerated examination and early publication at filing, answer every report promptly, and the IPO says grant in less than a year is possible. Think before you do it: early publication puts your invention in the public domain sooner, and the IPO itself notes that many applicants prefer the slower pace, which leaves time to test the market before spending more.

Renewal fees

The first renewal falls on the 4th anniversary of the filing date and pays for the 5th year. You can pay in the three months ending on the last day of that anniversary month (rule 37). If the patent is granted later than that, the first renewal is due 3 months after grant. Late payment is possible for up to six further months (s. 25(4)) with a surcharge that rises by £32 a month, from £32 to £160. A patent endorsed "licence of right" pays half the renewal fee. European patents (UK) also pay their UK renewal fees to the IPO once granted; rule 37(4) sets when the first one falls due.

Keeping a UK patent for the full 20 years costs £6,160 in renewal fees at 2026 rates, on top of the £405 to get it granted.

UK patent or European patent?

The UK left the EU but not the European Patent Convention, which is not an EU treaty. A European patent application still designates the UK, and a granted European patent can be validated there. Because the UK ratified the London Agreement, in force since 1 May 2008, no translation is required.

What the UK is not part of is the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court. The UK withdrew its ratification of the UPC Agreement on 20 July 2020, and the related UK legislation was repealed in 2021 (SI 2021/355). So if you request unitary effect, you still validate the same European patent separately in the UK, and UK disputes stay in the UK courts.

A common plan is a UK first filing with an early search, followed within 12 months by a European or PCT application claiming its priority. You can let the UK application run in parallel, but not to two grants: if a UK patent and a European patent (UK) are granted for the same invention with the same priority date, on applications by the same applicant or a successor, the IPO gives you a chance to amend and then revokes the UK patent (s. 73(2)). It waits until the EPO opposition period, and any opposition, is over before acting.

UK and European patents also both count for the UK's 10% corporation tax rate on patent profits; see the UK Patent Box.

More UKIPO guides

• Patent drawing requirements: USPTO, EPO and India

  37 CFR 1.84, the EPO rules that replaced Rule 46 EPC, and Indian rule 15, compared side by side.

• How to write patent claims: USPTO, EPO and India

  Claim structure and worked examples, then the claim rules and fees at the USPTO, the EPO and the Indian Patent Office, side by side.

• The UK Patent Box, explained

  The 10% rate, which UK, EP and EEA patents qualify, the R&D (nexus) fraction, the election deadline and a worked example.

• Types of patent searches, and which one you need

  Patentability, freedom-to-operate, invalidity and landscape searches compared by purpose, timing, scope and deliverable.

• Patentability search: how to check novelty before you file

  What counts as prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102 and Art. 54 EPC, the grace period gap, search steps and how to read results.

• Freedom-to-operate search in the US and Europe

  In-force claims only, legal status checks at the USPTO, EPO and UPC, FTO opinions after Halo, and design-arounds.

• Invalidity search: prior art to challenge a patent

  IPR, PGR, EPO opposition and UPC revocation deadlines, prior art dates, standards documents and claim charts.

• Patent landscape analysis, step by step

  Building a CPC and keyword dataset, cleaning families and names, the metrics that matter and the 18-month publication lag.

• Google Patents search guide

  Search operators and fields, Boolean and proximity syntax, non-patent literature, and where Google Patents falls short of the official databases.

• The Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC), explained

  How CPC symbols are built, CPC against IPC, the Y section, how to find the right class and how to search it in each database.

• Patent search Boolean operators and search strings

  Boolean, proximity and truncation syntax compared across Patent Public Search, Espacenet, Google Patents and The Lens, with semantic search for contrast.

• The PCT application: timeline, fees and national phase

  The international phase month by month, receiving Office and ISA fees in CHF, USD and EUR, national phase deadlines by office, and a deadline calculator.

• How much does a patent cost?

  USPTO fees by entity size from filing to the last maintenance fee, what drives professional fees, EPO fees, and an estimator.

• How long does a patent last?

  US utility and design terms, patent term adjustment and extension, terminal disclaimers, maintenance fee deadlines, Europe and India, with an expiry estimator.

• Can AI write a patent application?

  What AI drafting does well and badly, the USPTO and EPO positions on AI tools, AI inventorship after 2025, and confidentiality.

All guides, by patent office