IP Australia Announces eServices System Update

IP Australia has announced a system update, codenamed ‘Rio’, for its eServices platform. The update will be rolled out in early November 2018.

eServices Outage

The eServices Platform will be offline between Friday 9 November and Tuesday 13 November 2018 to enable the updates to be deployed. Although the majority of the planned outage falls over a weekend, it is important to note it also includes a Monday.

While limited filing will still be available during the outage by using the Alternate Lodgement Service, IP Australia has advised applicants and their representatives to plan around the outage and expect processing delays as the rollout goes live.

The updates will most likely impact applicants with deadlines falling around the outage, such as deadlines for acceptance, oppositions or trade mark renewals. New application filings are also likely to be affected, including new Madrid Protocol international applications based on Australian trade marks.

What are the changes?

Significant changes announced that affect the trade mark platform include:

• simplification of the eServices menu system user interface;
• introduction of online forms instead of PDF-based forms for some transactions, to help streamline data entry and processing;
• issuing Notices of Filing within 24 hours after filing, meaning applicants will no longer be able to request amendments to applications prior to indexing

The changes also include ‘under the hood’ improvements to the Online Search interface and eServices platform, such as removal of deprecated ‘Attorney Codes’ and updates to some correspondence templates and preparations for future updates.

More Information

Further information about the Rio update from IP Australia is published here.