New rules on official fees of IP Australia are coming into effect.
Introduction
On August 7, 2020, the Intellectual Property Office of Australia (IP Australia) announced the amendments to the official fees for trademarks, registered designs, patents and plant breeders' rights. The bureau stated that these changes reflect its commitment to abiding by the government's charging policy, that its charges are in compliance with regulations, transparent, and can recover the costs associated with managing the intellectual property system.
Trademark
When submitting a standard application, the application fee for each category of goods or services will be increased by 70 Australian dollars, from 330 Australian dollars per category to 400 Australian dollars per category. When filing a serial trademark application, the fee for specifying each category of goods or services will increase from AU$480 to AU$550. However, the application fee for using IP Australia's online "pick list" of goods and services will remain unchanged at AUD 250 per category.
The trademark renewal fee will remain unchanged and will remain at AUD 400 per category.
The application fee charged by IP Australia for international registrations designating Australia will increase from AUD 350 per category to AUD 400 per category. Therefore, this will inevitably lead to an increase in individual country/region fees imposed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Australia.
The changes in costs related to hearings in opposition proceedings are as follows:
-The application fee for the hearing has been reduced from A$600 to A$400;
-Add new hearing related fees: the fee for attending the hearing in person is 800 AUD/day; the fee for attending the hearing by telephone or video conference is 600 AUD/day (in each case, the hearing of 400 AUD is deducted Application fee);
-There will be no additional fees for hearings based on written materials only (if the hearing application fee of $400 has been paid).
The fees for objections and related hearings will not be adjusted at this time. After receiving public comments on the adjustment, IP Australia decided to solicit further comments and consider it carefully.
Registered design
The fee for submitting a design application through standard electronic means remains unchanged, at $250 per design. However, applicants can now submit multiple applications that belong to the same category, and the fee for each subsequent design in the same application is 200 Australian dollars.
The renewal fee will increase from AUD 320 to AUD 400, an increase of AUD 80.
Plant breeders' rights
The fees for standard electronic applications have not changed. The renewal fee will increase from A$345 to A$400, an increase of A$55.
Most of the adjustments will take effect on October 1, 2020. The fee adjustment plan for the international registration designating Australia will be implemented on November 7, 2020.
In conclusion
IP Australia's last fee review and adjustment was in 2016. Although the latest regulations mean that the cost of trademarks, registered designs, patents and plant breeders’ rights will generally increase, unless through the IP Australia electronic filing system, the cost of action will increase significantly. . This reflects IP Australia's policy to encourage applicants to use its electronic filing system and to ensure that its fees reflect the management costs of the intellectual property system.
Trademark owners who wish to take advantage of the current lower fee standards should consider filing new trademark applications as far as possible before the new rules take effect.