Current
The Patent Examination Manual (the 'Manual') sets out our practices under the Patents Act 2013 and the Patents Regulations 2014. The Manual is set out according to the relevant sections of the Patents Act 2013.
Patents Act 2013 — New Zealand Legislation
Patents Regulations 2014 — New Zealand Legislation
The Manual includes commentary on relevant case-law from the Courts and decisions from the Hearings Office. It will be updated regularly and will occasionally include commentary on sections or regulations not already covered in earlier versions of the Manual. Updates to the examination manual are notified in our newsletter by subscribing to "Practice Notes and Legislation Updates".
Historical versions of the examination manual can be found at the bottom of this page.
The Manual does not provide an authority for any matters relating to patent applications or patents under the Act.
Technical focus group
The purpose of the Patents Technical Focus Group (TFG) is to provide a forum for communication between client representatives and IPONZ in relation to the provision of technical patent intellectual property services in New Zealand.
The Group meet to:
- feedback on proposed practices and upcoming publications
- supplement the communication that the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has with other parties interested in IP, for example policy consultation, client surveys, one-on-one contact with users of IP services.
Read the following notes from the meetings.
Historical
This section contains previous versions of the above practices that have since been superseded.