New patent system in Europe more expensive?

In a few years we will probably have one more patent system in Europe, the Unitary Patent.
The idea is good, one patent for all the EU states, and so was the objective: to make it less expensive.
Since the idea popped up several decades ago a lot has happened in patent-Europe and it seems like it will be more expensive than the existing system.

How it will work
The big difference is that instead of getting a bundle of national patents you will actually get a single "EU-patent" for up to 24 countries. (Spain, Italy, Poland and Croatia have not joined.)
It also means that one will pay a single annual fee instead of annual fees in each country. So, at what level will this new annual fee end up? Good question, nobody knows yet but a good guess is that it will be equal to the annual fees in 4-5 countries, the normal number of countries where patent owners protect themselves in Europe today.

Another big difference is that it will not be necessary to translate your European patent into the national languages even if you still will have to translate the full patent into another European language.
So, how can anything go wrong? Well, the thing is that the most common countries to validate in (transfer from European Patent into national patents, a mandatory step) today are Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. As the validations in Germany, the UK, France and Switzerland are automatic and free (no translations or filings needed, no official fees), together with that Spain and Italy will not take part, means that the savings with the new system are ...negative, as there will be this new, mandatory translation into another European language.

Then we come back to the annual fees. Let's say that the annual fee for the Unitary Patent will correspond to the fees in four countries. Compare this to validating in the five countries above and keep the patents for 10 years in Germany, the UK and France and for 5 years. Together with validation costs, it would look like this:

What it costs today
Validation costs in DE FR UK- ------------- (nil)
Validation costs in IT ES--------------------€ 2805
Renewal fees in DE FR UK (10 years)---€ 7650
Renewal fees in IT ES (5 years)---------- € 1158
----------------------------------------
Total € 11 623

Okay, compare with keeping the Unitary patent for 10 years:

With Unitary patent system
Full translation at Grant---------------------------€ 950
Renewal fees (equal to 4 states, 10 years)--€ 11760
Renewal fees in IT ES (5 years)------------------€ 1158
------------------------------------------
Total € 13 868

It makes the Unitary patent way some 20% more expensive. Wasn't the whole idea to make it less expensive?

Will it always be a disadvantage? No, if you today validate in a lot of countries and never are problems with angry competitors dragging your patents to court, it will most probably be better (if the new Unitary Patent Court will work...). Do look out if you expect litigations about you Unitary Patent: if you lose, you lose the patent protection everywhere !

/Olle Bäcklund , www.directvalidation.com
olle.backlund@directvalidation.com
more details at http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/sepaf/pressreleases/unitary-patent-and-then-what-1066214