AU$ Trademark Fees Have Changed

IP Australia Fees for Applying to Register a Trade Mark? 

A few quick things you should know before making an application for a trade mark:

• Registration has local affect (Australia) only, unless you specifically make and pay for an international application
• The cost of international applications vary depending upon the countries you want to cover
• Generic or commonly used words and phrases are unlikely to achieve registration
• The assessment process takes six to twelve months and, if successful, is backdated to the date of your application
• There are 45 classes of registration and each class attracts a fee

Until October 2016 you had to pay both an application fee when you lodged your application and a registration fee six to twelve months later once it was accepted.

For applications made after 10 October 2016, you pay a higher application fee, but no additional registration fee, so overall its cheaper! Just a bigger up front cost than previously.

In 2020 your IP Australia standard trade mark application fees are either:

– $250 per mark applied for, per class applied for if you use IP Australia pre-set descriptions, or

– $400 per mark, per class if you use your own unique descriptions 

Example: You have one brand name you want to register for printed material, clothing and the delivery of entertainment online. That covers at least three separate classes. If you use pre-set descriptions from IP Australia, your fee to IP Australia for that one brand will be $750. If you use your own descriptions, your fee will be $1200. Your legal fees are separate. 

As soon as you use a unique description in one class, the unique descriptor fee applies across each class, unless you make separate applications for other classes. 

If you’re not sure whether you are ready, or even need to register a trade mark at this stage, check out our guest article in ProBlogger “How (and When) to Register a Trademark Without Hiccups” where we take you through a 5 step process –

Step 1: Is your brand capable of trade mark protection?
Step 2: Does your brand have value?
Step 3: Is there anyone else out there using your brand, or likely to?
Step 4: Is there any other form of protection in place?
Step 5: Is now the right time?