Australia Patent Office has amended some of the official fees for patent/patent applications to recover the costs from administering intellectual property (IP) rights and their associated legislation. The changes to the official fees will commence from October 1, 2020. A summary of the patent/patent application fee changes is discussed below.

CHANGES TO PATENT FEES

The present official fee changes for the patent/patent applications are largely related to the renewal or maintenance fees. Specifically, the current official fee changes of the Australian Patent office apply to the following activities relating to patent/patent applications.

1. Patent Application Fees-other means (Filing by post)
2. Acceptance Fees
3. Patent Renewal Fees

1. Changes in the patent application fees-other mean

IP Australia has changed the official patent application fee only to the service relating to other means (eg., postal filing). The official fee for online service remains unchanged. The details of the changes are given below.

The current official fees change in the patent application fees will encourage the online services (preferred means) since the patent application fees-other means have been increased by almost 20%.

2. Changes to acceptance fees

There is no change in the standard acceptance fees. However, the new fee schedule increased the extra claim fees on different levels as given below. Presently, AUD110 for each claim in excess of 20 claims is payable at the time of acceptance. In the new fee schedule, the fees for extra claims will be considered as follows.

1. 1 to 20 claims – No fees
2. 21 to 30  claims – AUD125 for each claim
3. more than 30 claims– AUD250 for each claim

3. The summary of the changes in the patent renewal fees is provided in the table below.

The renewal fee is given below is for the standard patent using online services only. There is an additional AUD50 is applicable if the payments are not made using the online services.

The patent renewal fees for the patents having extended term, particularly pharmaceutical patents, have been increased drastically by the range of 56% to 213%. The table below summarizes the changes inthe renewal fee for the patents having extended terms.

In Australia, Applicants can pay the upcoming standard patent renewal/maintenance fees in advance provided a renewal fee has not been paid in the preceding 90 days. Given this provision, Applicants can achieve significant savings in official fees by paying the upcoming standard patent renewal/maintenance fees before October 1, 2020, particularly for extended pharmaceutical patents.