They are not high but in many countries they do increase with time: e.g. in Germany the maintenance fee is 70 EUR in the third and fourth years, increasing year

They are not high but in many countries they do increase with time: e.g. in Germany the maintenance fee is 70 EUR in the third and fourth years, increasing year by year to 1940 EUR in the 20th year (and 4520 EUR in the 26th year in the case of supplementary protection) https://www.dpma.de/docs/english/formulare/allg_eng/a9510_1.pdf https://www.dpma.de/docs/english/formulare/allg_eng/a9510_1....