Section 55.1 of the IP Code provides that, “[t]o maintain the patent application or patent, an annual fee shall be paid upon the expiration of four ‘ (4) years from the date the application was published pursuant to Section 44 hereof, and on each subsequent anniversary of such date. Payment may be made within three (3) months before the due date. The obligation to pay the annual fees shall terminate should the application be withdrawn, refused, or cancelled,”
In order to achieve a uniform procedure in the payment of annuity fees for granted or published divisional patent applications, the Philippines patent office has issued a memorandum that the first annual fee shall be due and payable upon the expiration of four (4) years from the date the parent application was published, and on each subsequent anniversary of such date.
The Philippines patent office has implemented a transition period of one (1) year from March 03, 2014. As such, the full implementation of payment of annuities for divisional applications in the Philippines will be fully effective from March 03, 2015.
Upon commencement, all first annual fee payment for divisional applications shall now be due and payable upon the expiration of four (4) years from the date the parent application was published, and on each subsequent anniversary of such date. Furthermore, if the divisional application was filed more than four (4) years from the publication date of the parent application, the annuity payment of the divisional application shall commence on the following year from the last annuity payment date of the parent application and on each subsequent anniversary of such date. In this case, the parent application shall only pay the remaining claims covering the subject matter of the parent application in the subsequent annuity payments thereof.
Accordingly, the first annuity payment of a direct route divisional application shall commence upon the expiration of four (4) years from publication date of the direct route parent application. Likewise, the first annuity payment of a PCT national phase divisional application shall commence upon the expiration of four (4) years from the international publication date of the parent international application.