As part of its budget deliberations the Australian government has approved new fees proposed by IP Australia.
The majority of fee changes will occur on 1 July 2012, with the exception of new application filing fees which will change from 1 October 2012.
In particular, a new fourth year continuation/renewal fee will apply to all patent applications whose anniversary falls on or after 1 July 2012. Therefore, the new fee will apply to patent applications filed on or after 1 July 2008 or any granted patent with a Date of Patent on or after 1 July 2008.