Renewals
Intellectual property offices worldwide charge fees to maintain intellectual property rights such as patents, trademarks, registered designs, and plant breeder’s rights. These fees are known as ‘renewal fees’, ‘maintenance fees’, or ‘annuity fees’.
The amount and frequency of renewal fees will vary based on the intellectual property office and the type of IP right. These fees must be paid on time to avoid the IP right lapsing. If you miss the initial deadline, the IP right can be reinstated by paying additional fees within a 6-month grace period. After this period, reinstating the IP right becomes difficult or impossible. Our specialised team has the expertise to manage these deadlines and reinstatement process if needed.
Ensuring that your renewal fees are paid is an important part of managing your IP portfolio and protecting the value of your commercial enterprise.
We deliver renewals solutions to fit your size, team and needs.
You can chose one of the following options on how to manage your renewals:
Option 1: You can manage your renewal payments yourself.
Option 2: CPA Global Limited/Clarivate can manage your renewal payments.
FB Rice has joined a specialist renewal agency called CPA Global Limited in order to effectively pay renewal fees around the world. CPA Global have recently been acquired by Clarivate. By using Clarivate we are able to ensure you receive reminders about renewal fees, and that your instructions to either pay the renewal fees or allow the intellectual property right to lapse are efficiently processed.
Further information about Clarivate may be found here.
Clarivate sends renewal reminder notices directly to you and attends to the renewal payment upon receipt of your instructions. There is no obligation upon you to use the services of Clarivate; however, where Clarivate services are used, the partners of FB Rice derive a financial benefit from Clarivate.
Option 3: FB Rice can manage your renewals.
For our clients who choose not to use CPA Global/Clarivate, FB Rice provides a full in-house specialist renewals service by our renewals team who monitor deadlines, send renewal reminders to you, and pay renewal fees on receipt of your instructions. Our renewals team can also tailor our renewals service to meet your needs, including providing quarterly or monthly portfolio reports for larger portfolios, and automatically paying renewals.