The patent is then regarded as lapsed from the start of the contribution year for which you have not paid the fee.

You can also write to PRV and state that you want to give up exclusive rights. Explain clearly that you want to give up your patent. If the patent has not been distrained, had distraint imposed on it, been taken as a debt claim or is not the subject of a dispute regarding transfer, PRV will declare the patent terminated.

If, for any reason, you want to stop the application process and give up your rights already at the application stage, for example to prevent your application from being made public, you can withdraw it. That must be done in writing. We then dismiss the application from further processing and it cannot be reinstated again for processing.