IP Australia have amended their official fees for patents, trade marks, and designs after they sought public comment on their fee structure in 2019. A large portion of the fee changes are aimed at requests filed not using their preferred means systems i.e IP Australia Online Services.
Feedback received revolved around alignment across rights, i.e. consistency to fees and regulations across similar services, as well as requests to simplify fee structures to reduce confusion and complexities for customers and staff. The new fees will commence from 12am AEDT, 1 October 2020.
A summary of the fee changes is set out below.
Patents
The majority of changes to official fees relate to renewing and maintaining patents. Each anniversary year now has a different renewal fee, differing to the previous structure which had the same fees assigned to 5 year periods. In addition to an increase in the renewal fees, two tiers of new ‘excess claims’ fees will be introduced:
- Greater than 30 claims will be $250 per excess claim; and
- Greater than 20 and equal to or less than 30 claim will be $125 per excess claim.
Trade Marks
The official fees payable (per class) for a standard application will increase from $330 to $400 (No Pick List – Preferred Means i.e IP Australia Online Services)
Other significant changes include new charges for trade mark hearings, the filing of International Registrations designating Australia (IRDAs) and series applications.
Designs
The official fees payable for renewal of a design registration will increase from $320 to $400 (Preferred Means).
Filing an application with more than one design will now incur a fee of $200 per design beyond the first (within the same category as the first design).
For a breakdown of the changes and fees, visit IP Australia.
If you have any questions about these fee changes or if you are seeking assistance with protection of your IP rights in Australia, call us on +61 7 3369 2226 or email mail@mbip.com.au.