The Hearings Office of the Intellectual Property Organisation of New Zealand (IPONZ) is asking for feedback on several proposed changes.

The proposed changes are to schedule of costs and 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 14 years ago, in 2004. The new proposed 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.

Reviews for Schedule of Costs for both Trade Mark Hearings and Patent Hearings are available for review.

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 this consultation period, all submissions will be summarised to inform the final decision on the proposed changes.