Every grant of a European patent raises the same question: Unitary Patent or national validations? For many clients, the cost side is hard to grasp. Until now, we sent tables – renewal fees per country and year, added up over the remaining term. Correct, but tedious to read. So we built a calculator that shows the answer in a few seconds: eproute.com, free of charge and without registration.
Some background: on grant, a European patent becomes a bundle of national patents that have to be validated individually and maintained year after year by paying renewal fees. Since 2023 there has been an alternative, the Unitary Patent, with a single renewal fee for currently 18 EU member states. Which route is cheaper depends on the countries you need.
How the calculator works
Enter the EP number – the filing date is retrieved automatically from the EPO register. Alternatively, the filing date is enough. Then select the countries: the 18 Unitary Patent states as well as the United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, Türkiye and further validation states. The calculator shows the remaining official renewal fees up to the end of the term – per year, cumulative and per country – and compares them with the Unitary Patent route. Fees in national currencies are converted into euros at current ECB rates. The result can be saved as a PDF.
An example
A European patent filed in 2021 is to be maintained in ten countries: Austria, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden as well as Switzerland, Spain and the United Kingdom. For years 7 to 20, national validation costs around EUR 79,900 in official renewal fees. With the Unitary Patent for the seven EU states plus three national validations it is around EUR 53,900 – a saving of about EUR 26,000. With fewer countries the result can be different: the Unitary Patent fee roughly corresponds to the national fees of the four validation countries chosen most often so far.
Decision at grant – and afterwards
The request for unitary effect must be filed within one month of publication of the mention of grant, and the national validations normally follow within three months. But the calculator also helps later: national patents can be dropped country by country when the renewal fee there is no longer worth it – a Unitary Patent only as a whole.
The calculator sends no data to us. The result is a planning estimate based on the official fees for 2026 – translations, publication fees and attorney fees are not included.
We will be happy to review your validation strategy and, if you wish, take over the monitoring and payment of your renewal fees – for national patents as well as for the Unitary Patent.