New Zealand: taking a PCT application to grant costs an estimated US$2,382, plus about US$6,407 in renewal fees over the patent's life. The PCT national phase for New Zealand must be entered within 31 months of the earliest priority date. New Zealand is a leading patent market for biotechnology and medical technology. It is also one of the world's leading exporters of milk powder and condensed milk and butter.
Goods where New Zealand is among the world's 3 largest exporters, has at least 15% of world exports, or that make up at least 25% of its own exports - of at least US$500m a year.
Our estimate is about US$2,382 to take a PCT application to grant in New Zealand. That is about US$562 in official fees and US$1,820 in attorney fees. By stage: filing US$822, examination request US$553, office action response US$600 and grant / issuance / publication US$407 (one office action response included). Renewal fees over the patent's life add an estimated US$6,407. These are estimates only, for a standard application (10 claims, 30 pages, a company applicant): the actual cost depends on the law firm and the application. Request a quote from a law firm on this site for an exact price.
The PCT national phase for New Zealand must be entered within 31 months of the earliest priority date.
New Zealand's 10 largest fields of technology by patent publications are pharmaceuticals (478 a year), biotechnology (245 a year), medical technology (207 a year), organic fine chemistry (180 a year), civil engineering (127 a year), other special machines (107 a year), basic materials chemistry (77 a year), handling (76 a year), food chemistry (70 a year) and other consumer goods (61 a year). Within its region, it stands out for biotechnology (#6 in East Asia and Pacific), medical technology (#6 in East Asia and Pacific), pharmaceuticals (#7 in East Asia and Pacific), handling (#7 in East Asia and Pacific), other special machines (#7 in East Asia and Pacific) and civil engineering (#7 in East Asia and Pacific). Publications are growing fastest in other consumer goods (7% a year), biotechnology (5% a year) and transport (1% a year). About 4,853 PCT applications enter the national phase in New Zealand each year.
New Zealand's GDP is US$264.1bn, of which services US$174.9bn, industry US$49.8bn (of which manufacturing US$21.2bn) and agriculture US$10.3bn. Spending a year: households US$148.9bn and health care US$26.7bn. New Zealand's exports of goods came to US$45.2bn in 2024. Its 10 largest exports were milk powder and condensed milk (US$6.2bn, 14% of its exports, #1 in the world), butter (US$2.9bn, 6% of its exports, #1 in the world), fresh fruit (US$2.5bn, 6% of its exports, #5 in the world), frozen beef (US$2.3bn, 5% of its exports, #5 in the world), lamb and goat meat (US$2.2bn, 5% of its exports, #2 in the world), logs (US$1.8bn, 4% of its exports, #1 in the world), cheese (US$1.7bn, 4% of its exports, #7 in the world), malt extract and food preparations of flour (US$1.5bn, 3% of its exports, #5 in the world), wine (US$1.3bn, 3% of its exports, #7 in the world) and milk and cream (US$984m, 2% of its exports, #5 in the world). It is also one of the world's top exporters of casein (#1, US$860m) and whey (#3, US$623m). Where products are made, a patent there can stop infringing copies being made, not only being sold.
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Find the best countries for your patentPatent publications and PCT national phase entries: averages over recent years. Exports: customs trade statistics; re-export hubs are left out. Costs are estimates.