A Unitary Patent Cost Estimate

The Questel Services Portal now provides an option to request a cost estimate for a Unitary Patent.

To start, click New Estimate in the menu, and select either Filing and Translation, or Translation Only project type. To generate a UP cost estimate, select one of the EP options in the Filing Type field.

On the Overview page of new estimate workflow, you will now find a UPC Status: Opted Out checkbox. When the sunrise period begins, field will be automatically populated using data from the UPC Case Management System. For now, the box is unchecked by default, but you can manually update it if you are planning to opt out the current application.

Note that it is not possible to request the opt-out via this field; it is only intended to communicate the UPC status of the application.

On the Jurisdictions page of the workflow, you will find the option to select UP - Unitary Patent.

If UP is selected and the source language is English, an additional UP Translation Language field is displayed below. The list contains EU languages available for translation. If the source language is German or French, the translation language is automatically set to English. No additional language selection in this case is required.

If the UP jurisdiction is selected, the individual UP member states can no longer be added to the estimate. The opposite is also true, where if at least one UP member state is selected for validation, the UP jurisdiction is no longer available.

In addition to UP, you can add regular validation jurisdictions that are not UP member states to the same estimate.

You will find the UP jurisdiction disabled for selection if the UPC Status: Opted Out box was checked on the previous page.

On the Estimated Costs page, you will see the usual fee breakdown. The jurisdiction list will now include UP - Unitary Patent, if selected.

If the UP Translation Language is the same as the language of any other jurisdiction on your estimate, its translation cost is waived as a duplicate.

The claims word count is deducted from the total word count when calculating the UP translation cost. The reason for this is that the claims translation is already available at this stage, or it is requested separately as part of the EP Grant or 71(3) Claims Translation order.

If the source language is German or French, the English translation for UP filing can in some cases also be automatically used as a relay or transitional language for other jurisdictions on the same estimate.

When a UP estimate is converted into a project, the system checks if the UP deadline is still valid. If the deadline has passed, the UP is automatically removed from the list of selected jurisdictions, but you can still proceed with the regular EP validation process.

You can also now select UP as part of the Common Jurisdictions lists, which can be used in estimates or projects. To do so, open Account Settings and navigate to Common Jurisdictions. Type UP to find the jurisdiction in the list.