Award of costs

If you are in a dispute at the Intellectual Property Office with someone else about a patent and win the dispute, depending on the circumstances of the case, we may order the losing side to make a payment to you towards your costs.

We award costs on the basis of a published scale. Generally, where we award costs, the award will not cover all expenses. This is because an award of costs is not meant to compensate you or the other side for your actual costs, but is meant to be a contribution towards the costs either of you may have had. Very occasionally, depending on the case itself, we may award costs higher than the published scale.

If you are successful, we will let you know when you will receive payment.

Of course, if you are unsuccessful, you may have to make a payment towards the other side’s costs, so you should always bear that in mind.

Generally, we will award costs at the end of the dispute when we know which side has won, however we can award costs at any stage in the dispute.

We do not always award costs in inter partes disputes and do not award costs in ex parte cases.