IP Australia : About IP Australia > Customer Service Charter

Patents' Service Level Committments

Patents - Charter Service Level Commitments

Examination:

We are working towards issuing first reports on applications for standard patents within 14 months of receiving the request for examination.

We will examine and issue a report on your granted innovation patent, provided you have paid the fee and complied with the formalities, within one month of receiving the request for examination.
We will issue an international search report for your application for a patent within nine weeks of receiving the search copy of the international application unless the application is for more than one invention.
We will issue an international-type search report for your application for a patent within four weeks of receiving the request for the search, unless the search request covers more than one invention, or we ask you to supply a written search statement.
We will respond to correspondence relating to the examination of your application within four weeks of receiving it.
We will achieve 95% compliance with all our published Product Quality Standards.

Hearings:

We will issue our decision within three months of holding a hearing, unless we receive further submissions or evidence.

Registration:

We will seal your patent within one month after the opposition period has expired, provided no one has opposed the application and any applicable fees have been paid.
We will grant your innovation patent, provided you have paid the fee and complied with the formalities, within one month of the application being lodged.

For our current compliance with these commitments, go to our Charter Report.

More Patents statistics are available at our IP Statistics page.