Patent registration in New Zealand. New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. New Zealand has an advanced market economy, ranked 14th in the 2019 Human Development Index and third in the 2020 Index of Economic Freedom. It is a high-income economy with a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of US$36,254. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of patent registration in New Zealand.
Patent in New Zealand
According to New Zealand Law, a patent in New Zealand is a grant of a property right given by the Government to an inventor. With a patent, the inventor, or the patentee will have the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling the invention in a country, or importing the invention into a country, along with other rights to protect their best interests.
To be patentable in New Zealand, an invention must satisfy the new, nonobvious, inventive, and industrially applicable requirements.
In addition, an invention that is patentable can also be an improvement on existing items or methods.
On the other hand, the unpatentable subjects in New Zealand are:
- Discoveries, laws of nature, and mathematical methods;
- Aesthetic designs;
- Systems, rules, and methods for the performance of mental labor, games or management, computer programs;
- Presentation of data and abstract ideas.
Necessary documents for patent registration in New Zealand
The necessary documents for patent registration in New Zealand include:
- The request to grant a patent (patent application);
- Detailed information on the applicant(s) including the applicant’s and inventor’s names, addresses, citizenships, etc.;
- A description of the invention;
- A signed and stamped power of attorney by the applicant(s);
- A copy of the amendments (if any);
- Priority documents (if any).
- Other required documents.
The procedure of patent registration in New Zealand
To obtain a patent in New Zealand, the applicant needs to submit the patent application to the IP Office of New Zealand.
Before filing, the applicant should conduct a patent search to see if there have been any similar patents pending or registered before as this might damage the registrability of the invention.
In New Zealand, the applicant can choose to file a provisional specification or a complete specification.
Once the specification has been submitted, the applicant needs to file a request for an examination.
The examiners after receiving the request will conduct a thorough examination to check if the application complies with the requirements of the law and is patentable or not.
If errors are detected, the examiners will inform the applicant and give them the time to amend or supplement the application.
Next, the application will be published publicly in the IPONZ Journal. Any third parties who feel like their rights are violated may file for opposition to the application within 3 months from the publication date.
If no opposition is filed or the opposition action ends with the applicant being the winner, the grant decision of the patent is issued.
The patent will have a 20 years validity period.
It should be noted that however, a patent registered in New Zealand will only have protection in this country. If the applicant would like to obtain patent protection in another country, they will need to file a patent application in that country too.
You can see a list of New Zealand IP firms here.