Enhancements to the IPONZ Case Management Facility

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Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand

Enhancements to the IPONZ Case Management Facility

The enhancements to our case management facility effective as of 3 March 2016 are as follows:

Addition of case domain filter for discussions

You may now filter your discussions via case domain – Patents, Trade Marks, Designs, PVR, or Proceedings – in addition to case and discussion type.

Changes to Continued Processing for NZDs

Requests for Continued Processing for NZDs may now be made via the IPONZ online case management facility. This supersedes the existing method for submitting continued processing requests via mail@iponz.govt.nz.

For more information on Requests for Continued Processing, please refer to the practice guidelines.

Responding to Patent Examination Reports after the response deadline

When responding to a Patent Examination Report after the deadline set in accordance with section 67 of the Patents Act 2013, the ‘Respond to Examination Report’ screen of the IPONZ online case management facility will now make it clear that your submission includes a request for an extension of time under regulation 78(2) of the Patents Regulations 2014.

New option for requests to Withdraw a Patent Application

You may now explicitly choose to withdraw a patent application with the effect of leaving no rights outstanding, including the right to claim priority under the Paris Convention on the basis of the application.

When withdrawing a patent application, you will now be presented with the following mutually exclusive options:

  • Confirm withdrawal of the Patent Application(s).
  • Confirm withdrawal of the Patent Application(s) leaving no rights outstanding including with regard to claiming a right of priority under the Paris Convention.

Choosing the second option will effectively prohibit restoration of a withdrawn application in the future.

Digitisation of Patent Specifications prior to 1980

Specifications of New Zealand patents published from 1891 to 1979 have now been digitised and uploaded onto the IPONZ online case management facility. This completes a project to transfer all historical patents onto the contemporary register.

Published on March 3, 2016
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