75% hike in patent fees proposed
The fees and charges for patenting bright ideas over the maximum 20-year life of a patent would go up by about $12,000 under a government proposal.
The cost of being an inventor is set to go up dramatically, with the Government proposing big hikes in the fees for registering and renewing patents.
The fee for having a patent examined would increase 50 per cent to $750, while the fees and charges to amend and renew patents would at least double and in some cases triple under a proposal released by Commerce Minister Kris Faafoi.
Overall, the income from patent fees would go up by about 75 per cent under the proposal, increasing the cost of securing and holding a patent over its maximum 20-year life by about $12,000.
The biggest single increase would be in the charge to renew a 13-year old patent, which would leap from $1000 to $5900. The annual renewal fee for patents that were more than 14 years old would rise from $350 to $1000.
READ MORE
* Keep your patent cards close to your chest
* Drone market finally set for take-off after whirl of patents
* Craggy approach to Patents amendment
The discussion paper published by the Intellectual Property Office (IPONZ), which manages patents, said existing fees were much lower than in other countries.
"Patent fee revenue hasn't been covering costs, and we expect this to continue if patent fees stay the same."
The paper said the significant increases in fees for older patents would provide an additional incentive for people to abandon patents that they didn't intend to commercially exploit.
The number of staff at IPONZ involved in approving and renewing patents has risen from 27 five years ago to 60 today – in part to meet the demands of a law change in 2013.
The Patents Act was amended that year to toughen the examination of patents and to make them easier to challenge.
The patents part of IPONZ's business was now running at a $2.5 million to $5m annual deficit, it said.
IPONZ forecast it would need 87 patents staff by 2022.
The silver lining is that IPONZ is proposing to cut the fee income it collects for registering and renewing trademarks by 37 per cent.
Faafoi said people would have until July 30 to make submissions on the proposal.
- Stuff
Comments