Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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PATENTS AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 1998 (NO. 6) 1998 NO. 264

STATUTORY RULES 1998 NO. 264

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Industry, Science and Tourism

Patents Act 1990

Patents Amendment Regulations 1998

The Statutory Rules amend the Patents Regulations 1991 (the Regulations) to amend the fees payable to IP Australia from 1 November 1998. In addition, the Statutory Rules amend the Regulations to clarify the applicability of the new fee structure in certain circumstances.

Details of the amendments made by these Statutory Rules are as follows:

Regulation 1 identifies the Statutory Rules as the Patents Amendment Regulations 1998.

Regulation 2 specifies that subregulations 7.1, 7.2 and 7.4 commence on 1 November 1998. The remainder of the regulations commence on gazettal.

Regulation 3 identifies the Patents Regulations 1991 as those amended.

Regulation 4 substitutes subregulations 13.3 (1) and (3) with revised subregulations and includes new subregulation (1A). The purpose of these changes is to clarify the applicability of the new fee structure in certain situations.

Regulation 5 substitutes subregulations 13.6 (1), (2) and (3) with revised subregulations and includes new subregulation (6). The purpose of these changes is to clarify the applicability of the new fee structure in certain situations.

Regulation 6 is a consequentional amendment to paragraph 22.11(3)(b) in light of the amendment made to regulations 13.3 and 13.6.

Regulation 7 amends Part 2 of Schedule 7 to the Regulations by amending Item 4, substituting Item 7 with a revised Item 7 and deleting Item 12. The effect of these changes is to:

*       reduce the fee payable for the filing of a request for an examination of a patent application in accordance with section 45 of the Act from $350 to $290;

*       remove patent continuation and renewal fees payable on the third and fourth anniversaries of the date of a patent, these fees are $115 and $140 respectively;

*       remove the patent scaling fee of $200.

The changes to the fee structure arise from continuing improvements in productivity putting IP Australia in a position to pass the benefit of cost saying on to its clients. The changes have been structured to achieve the following objectives:

*       a reduction in the overall cost of patent registration for customers, and

*       simplification, of the fee schedule to provide better client service.