Renewal of a patent

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Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand

Renewal of a patent

You may need to pay application maintenance or patent renewal fees depending on the amount of time that has passed since your original filing date.

Annual fee payments are required from the fourth anniversary of the filing of your complete specification.

  1. If your patent application has not been granted you are required to pay an annual maintenance fee.
  2. If your patent has been granted you will need to pay an annual renewal fee.

You can pay your fee up to three months before the due date. If a fee is paid after the due date, a late fee will automatically be added to your payment.

Payment must be made within six months of the fee due date to keep your application pending, or your patent in force.

  • If your patent application has not been granted and your maintenance fee payment is not received by the end of this six-month deadline, your application will become abandoned.
  • If your patent has been granted and your renewal fee is not received by the end of this six-month deadline, your patent will become lapsed.

Applications that have abandoned or patents that have lapsed due to non-payment of a fee may be restorable, provided that the criteria for restoration in the Patents Act and Regulations are met.

Payment is made through our online maintenance and renewal service.

Watch out for Unsolicited IP services asking you to pay money for third-party services you may not have authorised.

Renewal fees

Renewal fees can be paid on granted patents. The renewal payment must be made within six months of the renewal deadline or the patent will lapse.

If a lapsed patent is restored to the register, any pending renewal fees must be paid within one month of the notification that the restoration has been approved. This one-month deadline cannot be extended.

If the term of a patent has expired, no further renewal fees are due.

Maintenance fees

Maintenance fees must be paid on patent applications. If a maintenance fee is not paid within six months of its due date, the application will become abandoned.

If an abandoned patent application is restored to the register, any pending maintenance fees must be paid within one month of the notification that the restoration has been approved. This one-month deadline cannot be extended.

All pending maintenance fees must be paid before a patent application becomes granted. Once a patent application is granted, no further maintenance fees apply, and the patent will become subject to renewal fees.

Making a maintenance or renewal fee payment

If you're a registered user:

  1. Log in to the IPONZ online case management facility, using the Login button at the top right area of this webpage.
  2. In your Inbox, under the Patent section, select Pay Patent Maintenance/Renewal. This will open a Pay Renewal or Maintenance Fee page.
  3. Confirm that your name and email address is correct, then click the Search button. This will open a Search Patent Case(s) page.
  4. Search for and select the patent case(s) for which you wish to pay a maintenance or renewal fee. This will return you to the Pay Renewal or Maintenance Fee page with the details of those patent cases displayed.
  5. Confirm that the displayed patent cases are the ones for which you intend to pay maintenance or renewal fees.
    • You may add more patent cases to this screen by clicking the Search button.
    • You may remove patent cases from this screen by clicking the Remove button next to those cases.
  6. Click the Submit button on the lower right corner of the screen to proceed to online payment.

If you're a casual user and don't use the site frequently:

  1. Visit the Manage IP page of the IPONZ website. Under the Patents section, select Renew. This will open a Pay Renewal or Maintenance Fee page.
  2. Enter your name and email address, then click the Search button. This will open a Search Patent Case(s) page.
  3. Search for and select the patent case(s) for which you wish to pay a maintenance or renewal fee. This will return you to the Pay Renewal or Maintenance Fee page with the details of those patent cases displayed.
  4. Confirm that the displayed patent cases are the ones for which you intend to pay maintenance or renewal fees.
    • You may add more patent cases to this screen by clicking the Search button.
    • You may remove patent cases from this screen by clicking the Remove button next to those cases.
  5. Click the Submit button on the lower right corner of the screen to proceed to online payment.
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