Revised PCT Fee for 2010

The following International Search Authority (ISA) has announced that the search fee for PCT will be revised from 1 January 2010:

Korea KRW 1,300,000 (44% increase) from KRW 900,000, approximately MYR 3,772 from MYR 2,432 for applications filed in English. The official fee announced by MYIPO for November is MYR 3,163. The official fee charged by MYIPO is usually higher than the official search fee to take into account exchange rate risk and bank charges. If the November fee is used as a guide, the estimated search fee in 2010 for Korea is MYR 4,555. The search fee for applications filed in Korean remains the same at KRW 450,000.

The following ISA search fee remains the same.

Australia AUD 1,600 unchanged, approximately MYR 5,076 and officially MYR 5,134 in November.

European Patent Office (EPO) EUR 1,700 unchanged, approximately MYR 8,700 and officially MYR 8,916 in November.

Korea ISA is popular among PCT applicants from Malaysia due to its competitive rate. Applicants from Malaysia have a choice of Australia, EPO or Korea to be nominated as ISA. Other ISA offering competitive search fees are Austria EUR 200 (MYR 1,024), China CNY 2,100 (MYR 1,100), Japan JPY 97,000 (MYR3,770), and Russia RUB 13,500 (MYR 1,583). China signed an MOU with ASEAN this month to increase IP cooperation. We hope that China will be one of the ISA authorized by MyIPO for ISA. We also wonder if MyIPO has any dream to become an ISA someday.

We encourage applicants to file PCT by 31st December 2009 to avoid the fee increase.