The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) is set to change its official fees. The new fees will be effective from 13 February 2020.
As reported in our previous article, official fees relating to patents are significantly affected, with the introduction of new fees and existing fees increasing, in some cases dramatically1. In contrast, IPONZ has elected to decrease its official fees for trade mark applications and trade mark renewals. 2 This is
particularly pleasing for applicants with large trade mark portfolios.
The new fees apply to all applications or requests made on or after 13 February 2020. This means that, for those who are able, delaying the filing of your trade mark applications until after this date will result in a substantial discount, particularly if filing multiple marks across multiple classes.
A further discount to register a trade mark has been introduced if both relevant preliminary advice and search advice were provided within three months of the application being made. However, the combined cost of the preliminary advice and search advice, together with the discounted filing fee, is effectively equivalent to the new filing fee.
Summary of changes to official trade mark fees from 13 February 2020.
| Fee | Percentage change | Current Fee (NZ$) | From 13 Feb 2020 (NZ$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Filing a new trade mark application (per class) | -33% | 150 | 100 |
| Filing a new trade mark (per class) with pre-approved descriptions | n/a | n/a | 70 |
| Adding a class to an existing application | -33% | 150 | 100 |
| 10 year renewals (per class) | -43% | 350 | 200 |
1New Zealand Trade Marks Amendment Regulations 2019 [2019/219] for more information.
This article was written by Daniel Ash and Sarah Couper.
If you have any specific enquiries about this article, please contact Paul Jones or Debra Tulloch.
Jones Tulloch’s articles are provided as general information only, current at the date of publication. They do not constitute professional (patent and trade mark attorney) advice and should not be relied upon as such. If you need specific professional advice, for example in relation to a matter of interest arising from this communication, please contact us.