IP Australia has announced changes to its official fees, commencing from 12am on 1 October 2020. This includes increases to trade mark, design, patent and plant breeder’s right fees, in order to recover its costs of administering these intellectual property rights.
For trade mark applicants, the most notable changes to trade mark fees are as follows:
- The filing fee for a standard trade mark application, where the applicant (or its agent) enters its own list of goods and services, will increase from $330 per class of goods and services to $400 per class; and
- The filing fee for a Madrid import application will increase from $350 per class of goods and services to $400 per class.
Importantly, the filing fee for a standard trade mark application, where the applicant (or its agent) searches IP Australia’s list of goods and services and chooses from that list (known as a ‘pick list’), will remain the same, namely $250 per class.
In light of these changes, applicants wishing to register trade marks in Australia should consider applying to register their proposed trade mark before the fee increases come into effect.
Alternatively, applicants may wish to consider using the pick list only when choosing goods and services. However, this can make drafting the goods and services specifications to avoid conflict with other registered marks or to more precisely define the applicant’s goods or services more difficult.
The full list of IP Australia’s fee changes can be viewed on the IP Australia website.
If you have any questions, or wish to discuss your potential trade mark application, please contact a member of Thomson Geer’s intellectual property team for a confidential discussion.
Authors
Ben Coogan | Partner | +61 7 3338 7503 | [email protected]
Georgia Campbell | Associate | +61 7 3338 7541 | [email protected]