Bangladesh introduces amendments to the IP fee schedule
The Bangladesh Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (DPDT) published a new version of intellectual property fees in the Official Gazette of November 24, 2021. The fees vastly constitute increases across the board, and were implemented as of December 5, 2021. A rate of 15% VAT is applicable on all Official fees.
Patents
As per the amendments to the patent fees of Bangladesh, the cost of filing a standard or a conventional application has risen by 2.5 times. Both of these fees are applicable to patent applications containing up to 25 pages of specification and up to 10 claims. The fee for each additional page and claim thereafter has been increased by five times.
The cost of filing a late application has been doubled, whilst the registration fee has risen by approximately 40%.
The fees in relation to patent annuities have increased significantly, with the cost payable for the 5th year surging by almost 3 times to approx. 119 USD from the previous fee of approx. 40 USD. Lesser rises can be seen throughout further maintenance fees, for example, the fee for the 10th year is now approx. 286 USD, 97% more than the previous cost and the final 16th year ballooning by nearly 2.3 times up to approx. 596 USD.
Trademarks
The fees in relation to trademark applications and maintenance have also increased in a similar manner, with the search fee expanding by 20%. Increasing by approximately 33%, the cost of filing a trademark application will now comprise approx. 60 USD.
The trademark publication fee has seen a significant increase of approximately 167%. The cost of trademark registration has grown by 25%. Further, the renewal of a trademark will now cost 16% more.
Both the fee for filing an application for the assignment of a mark and the fee for filing an opposition have inflated by 20%.
Design
Industrial design fees have also experienced growth as per the amended schedule, with the cost associated with filing a non-conventional design application now constituting approx. 48 USD, inflating by 60%. The fee for a priority claim in relation to an industrial design has increased by 50% to approx. 180 USD. Moreover, a fee of approx. 36 USD is now applicable for issuance of a design registration certificate.
The respective costs for recordal of an assignment, license agreement, and change of name and/or address will now constitute 60 USD each, rising by 50% from the previous fee.
The amendments to the intellectual property fee schedule in Bangladesh comprise increases for the majority ranging from subtle rises to almost triple the cost of the previous fee. If you are interested in estimating a budget for IP matters in Bangladesh with the updated fees, please feel free to use our quotation tool or contact our team for assistance.