Practice · 3 April 2026 · 6 min
The April 2026 UKIPO fee change, in the numbers that matter
Official fees rose on 1 April 2026. The increase is small on a single filing and large on a neglected renewal calendar.
The UKIPO increased a range of official fees on 1 April 2026. The figures below are the office's published amounts for the online services most clients use. They exclude professional charges, attorney fees and VAT.
Trade marks
- Application, first class: £205. Each extra class: £60.
- Renewal, first class: £245. Each extra class: £60.
- Late renewal surcharge and restoration have their own official fees. Restoration is not a plan; it is a rescue.
- A relative-grounds opposition remains one of the cheaper official actions, which is why it is often the right first move against a later mark.
What this changes in a portfolio
On one house mark in one class, the difference is a line on an invoice. On a hundred marks across three classes, with a renewal cluster in the same quarter, the official outlay is now large enough that a finance director will ask why the cluster exists. That is a useful question. A renewal programme should be grouped on purpose, not because ten historic filings happened to share a date.
We re-forecast every docket we run against the new tariff. Clients who want to drop unused classes should do it on the renewal, not six weeks after the official fee has been paid.
Patents and designs
Patent annuities already stepped up sharply with age; they still do. Design renewals remain modest against the commercial value of a shape that is the product. The lesson is unchanged: the official fee is the cheap part of losing a right. Re-filing, re-arguing priority, or explaining a gap to a buyer is the expensive part.
This note is general information about UK intellectual property practice. It is not advice on a particular set of facts. For that, write to [email protected].