Newsletter
NEW TRADEMARK OFFICIAL FEES ANNOUNCED
On 1 November 2000 the Intellectual Property Office announced a revised scale of official fees for trademark-related procedures, which will come into effect on 1 January 2001. The new fees are intended to reasonably reflect costs, and apply the principle that users and beneficiaries should pay for public services where appropriate; they also take account of price index changes over recent years and the equivalent fees charged in major countries worldwide.
The main thrust of the changes is to increase the fees charged for all kinds of trademark proce-dures, and to apply different fees to various procedures which are currently charged at the same rates. The main details are as follows:
The basic fee for an application to register a trademark will be increased by 60%, and three levels of fees will be introduced according to the number of goods/services for which designation is sought: up to 20, 21-60, and 61 or above.
Fees for amendments will be increased by amounts between 20% and 700%, depending on the items applied for change, and different fees will apply to different items, such as changes to a trademark design, to the designated goods or services, etc.
Individual fees will be introduced for recording the termination of a license and the extinguish-ment of a pledge.
Other recording fees such as recording of an as-signment, license or pledge will be increased by 33%.