Following an internal review and consultation, IP Australia has published its new fees which will take effect on 1 October 2020.

We take a look at the implications of patent protection on the availability of vaccines against, and treatments for, Covid-19 in the rush to discover and create these and issues such as compulsory licensing and patent pools.

We are pleased to announce that our trade mark and patent professionals have been named among the world's leading professionals in WTR 1000 and IAM 1000.

Each year tens of thousands of counterfeit products are imported into New Zealand. An easy way to deter and stop the importation of such infringing goods is to lodge border protection notices with the Customs Service of New Zealand. This is now more accessible as it is no longer necessary to pay a bond.

The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) has begun automatically extending certain deadlines due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand has announced that New Zealand will move to COVID-19 alert level four at 11.59pm Wednesday 25 March 2020 for a period of four weeks as a preventative measure to break the chain of community transmission. This means that all businesses that are not providing essential services are to close and all our staff must work remotely.

Our office location and courier address is now: Level 7, 158 Victoria Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011.

Our other contact details remain the same.

The United Kingdom and European Union have ratified the Withdrawal Agreement and the UK formally leaves the EU on 31 January 2020. The departure of the UK from the EU will have an impact on some of your registered IP rights in the EU.

As of 2 January 2020, Samoa is a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the Hague System for protection of industrial designs, and the Lisbon System for protection of geographical indications.