The Australian Government has recently approved increases to certain patent fees by IP Australia. The fee increases relate only to patents. Fees relating to trademarks, designs, and plant breeder’s rights remain unchanged. The more commonly used fees that have changed include:
| Item |
Old Fee
|
New Fee
|
| Filing provisional patent application |
$80
|
$110
|
| Filing standard patent application |
$320
|
$370
|
| Entering national phase of PCT application |
$320
|
$340
|
| Requesting Examination (standard patent) |
$420
|
$450
|
| Requesting Examination (innovation patent) |
$370
|
$400
|
| Acceptance (excluding excess claims) |
$140
|
$200
|
| Filing a Notice of Opposition |
$550
|
$600
|
| Filing a Term Extension Application |
$1,300
|
$2,000
|
| Renewal Fees (10th to 14th anniversary) |
$400
|
$450
|
| Renewal Fees (15th to 19th anniversary) |
$900
|
$1,020
|
Two new fees have also been introduced. The first is for filing a provisional patent application by electronic means. The second new fee will apply where an amendment increases the total number of claims to more than 20 after acceptance of an application and will become due on grant of such an amendment. This fee is equivalent to the excess claims fee currently charged at the time of acceptance of an application (i.e., $100 per claim in excess of 20). This change serves to formally close the loophole of avoiding or reducing excess claims fees by adding claims after acceptance.
The increases and new fees, which come into effect on 1 August 2010, represent the first fee increase by IP Australia in over three years. We are pleased to advise that we will not be increasing our professional charges at this time, and in fact have not done so in over three years.