Changes to Australian Patent Office Official Fees
Date:
28 June, 2012
IP Australia, the government body responsible for Australian patent, design and trade marks, has announced increases to fees charged for many of its products and services.
IP Australia, the government body responsible for Australian patent, design and trade marks, has announced increases to the fees charged for many of its products and services.
For patents, these changes will take effect on 1 July 2012 or 1 October 2012. On average there is an increase of approximately 20%.
Some example fee increases are as follows:
Action |
Current fee (AUD) |
New fee (AUD) |
Increase effective from |
| Entering National Phase | $340 | $370 | 1 October 2012 |
| Patent examination fee on standard patent application | $450 | $490 | 1 July 2012 |
| Patent examination fee on innovation patent application | $400 | $500 | 1 July 2012 |
| Request International Type Search | $1,400 | $2,200 | 1 July 2012 |
| 4th anniversary annuity on standard patent | - | $300 | 1 July 2012 |
| 5th to 9th anniversary annuity on standard patent | $250 | $300 | 1 July 2012 |
| 10th to 14th anniversary annuity on standard patent | $450 | $500 | 1 July 2012 |
| Appearing at a patent opposition hearing | $600 | $1,000 | 1 July 2012 |
A number of fees have a two tier structure, with a lower fee payable only when payment is made by "approved channels". FB Rice is committed to reducing official cost for our clients. We have set out here the lower fee where available as we will always pay these fees using the approved channels.
New fourth anniversary annuity fee
As you can see from the table above, IP Australia has introduced a 4th anniversary annuity fee. This new annuity fee will come into force on 1 July 2012 and will apply to:
(i) Standard patent applications or granted standard patents having an Australian filing date of 1 July 2008 (e.g. PCT filing date or convention filing date), or later.(ii) Divisional patent applications where the earliest parent application has an Australian filing date of 1 July 2008, or later.
Previously annuity fees were payable from the 5th anniversary.
As this 4th anniversary annuity fee only comes into effect on 1 July 2012, it cannot be paid before this date.
If you wish to avoid the fee increases on your instructions we would be happy to attend to payment of any fees before the increase is effective.
If you would like further information on which fees can be paid on your Australian patent portfolio to avoid fee increases, we are happy to help. Please contact your FB Rice attorney or:
Sydney office +61 2 8231 1000
Melbourne office +61 3 8618 4100
Melbourne office +61 3 8618 4100