Johannes Ahme A new cost law is under preparation which, besides introducing the conversion to the euro, integrates the regulations regarding all costs and fees of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office and the Federal Patent Court into a single cost act. Thus, essentially all the rules regarding payment of fees are removed from the patent act, trade mark act, utility model act, design model act etc and integrated into a single common cost act. The basic rule of this new cost act is that fees for an application, a request, an opposition, or an appeal become due at the moment they are filed. The Patent Office or Federal Patent Court will start to work on the particular application, request etc only once the fees have been paid. If the fees are not paid within three months after becoming due, the application, request etc is deemed to be withdrawn. The particular fees and their amounts are listed in an attachment to the cost act.
