Have your say on schedule of costs changes for IPONZ hearings

Have your say on schedule of costs changes for IPONZ hearings

IPONZ is currently seeking feedback on several updates to its schedule of costs for hearings.

The IPONZ Hearings Office is proposing changes to the proceeding costs schedules for Trade Marks and Patents. The changes are the result of reviews between the IPONZ Hearings Office, the Hearings Technical Focus Group, and the IPONZ Assistant Commissioners. The last review of these cost schedules took place in 2004.

In IPONZ trade mark and patent proceedings, the Commissioner may award costs to a party that the Commissioner considers reasonable. The Commissioner’s standard practice is to order the unsuccessful party in proceedings to pay costs to the successful party in accordance with a schedule of costs.

These updates are intended to ensure that costs awards are set at an appropriate level, and reflect the cost differences between trade mark and patent proceedings. Cost awards will continue to follow the standard practices and principles given on our Trade Mark Hearings and Patent Hearings pages.

We are seeking feedback on the proposed changes from 3 August to 31 August 2018.

Anyone is welcome to make a submission via email to mail@iponz.govt.nz before 5pm on Friday 31 August 2018.

At the end of the consultation period, all submissions will be summarised to inform the final decision on these proposals.

  • Submissions may be released in part or in full under the Official Information Act 1982. If you have any objection to the publication or release of any information in the submission, please set out clearly which part(s) you consider should be withheld, together with the reason(s) for withholding the information.
  • Under the Privacy Act 1993, any personal information provided in the course of making a submission will only be used to assist the development of a final decision in relation to this review. Please note that personal information will not be included in any summary of submissions that IPONZ may publish.

A summary of the proposed changes to the scales of costs are provided below:

For further questions or clarifications, please contact us via mail@iponz.govt.nz.

Published on August 3, 2018