Five countries have started 2019 with changes to their IP fee schedules
The beginning of this year was marked with official fee changes in Colombia, Israel, Turkey, Belarus and Kazakhstan. On January 1st, the revised fees came into effect in all countries, except for Kazakhstan, where the fee schedule was amended as of January 3rd. More detailed insights into the changes implemented in each country are highlighted below.
In Colombia, the official fees are revised annually, and this year most of the fees have been increased by approximately 5% in respect of all IP types.
Israel, in its turn, has raised the fees relating to every IP prosecution issue by an average of 1.2%.
In Turkey, the changes are more significant and relate to almost the whole fee schedule, despite a recent drastic decrease in the main procedural fees in September 2018. The filing fees, for example, have been increased by 5-20 TRY. Many other procedural fees have been subject to a much higher increase, with most of the fees, including annuities, rising by 30 TRY. In addition, some fees have been eliminated, whilst discounted fees for preparing search and examination reports by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office have appeared.
As to Belarus, the republic’s base value, on which the amounts of IP fees depend, has risen by 1 BYN to come up to 25.5 BYN. Moreover, the Tax Code of the country has been revised. According to the amendments introduced thereto, some fees have been decreased by an average of 30%. Furthermore, alongside clarification on discounts for an applicant being the inventor, the amended Tax Code stipulates a 75% discount on patent fees for scientific organisations and includes newly added fees, relating to utility model and trademark prosecution.
The revised fee schedule in Kazakhstan contains new items, such as fees for various types of searches, or terms extension and restoration. Moreover, the main procedural trademark fees have been amended to reflect the changes in the Kazakh trademark legislation, which took place in summer 2018.
As demonstrated, the global IP environment is constantly evolving, and our team remains diligent in closely monitoring even the slightest changes of the IP scope worldwide. This maintains our ability to reflect these changes in our system and to provide our clients with the most up-to-date IP data.