Insights

IP Australia implemented its second-half 2026 patent fee changes on 1 August, with a sharp increase in excess claim fees for applications carrying large claim sets, particularly once the number of claims exceeds 20. The change is likely to alter how PCT applicants approach Australian national phase entry: retaining broad, heavily layered claim sets without early consolidation may now create a noticeably higher cost at the outset.

At the same time, the new Green and Low-Carbon Technology Patent Fast Track offers a different incentive. Eligible inventions in areas such as clean energy, carbon capture and environmental protection may receive accelerated examination without an official fast-track fee, with a first examination report potentially issued in about three months. Read together, the measures point to a more selective allocation of examination resources. Applicants should review claim volume, amendment timing and divisional strategy before national phase entry, while green technology applicants should assess eligibility early enough to capture the procedural advantage.

On 30 July 2026, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) issued the final version of its revised design examination guidelines for virtual spaces and metaverse-related subject matter. The guidance clarifies how purely digital UI/UX, virtual buildings and digital assets such as in-game skins or virtual furniture may qualify as independent designs even when they are not tied to a physical product.

The update also gives Hague System applicants designating Japan more detailed filing instructions, including drawing standards for dynamic views and the electronic format for an “environment separation statement.” The practical message is straightforward: applicants now have a clearer route to protection, but they must define the design, its changing states and its relationship to the surrounding virtual environment with far greater precision. Weak sequencing of views or an incomplete statement could narrow protection or trigger formal objections.

This article updates our report of 19 July, “WIPO, WHO and ITU Map the IP Path for AI Health Innovation”.

On July 9, 2026, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) released AI-enabled Health Innovation and Intellectual Property: From Idea to Impact. The guide brings IP strategy, commercialization, health-data governance and technical standards into one framework for AI-enabled healthcare projects. It treats training-data provenance, patient consent, cross-border transfers, open-source licensing, model weights and technical documentation as connected business risks, while stressing that patents, trade secrets, copyright and contracts often need to work together.

For patent planning, the guide encourages applicants to describe concrete technical implementations in training pipelines, privacy-preserving methods and hardware-software interaction, and to use the PCT route when scaling into priority markets. European filings still need to reflect EPO practice on the “technical character” of AI and machine-learning inventions. The document does not create a single global legality test for using medical datasets or copyrighted literature in model training. Its practical message is narrower and more useful: data permissions, patent filings and regulatory access should be designed in parallel. A startup that leaves data provenance until due diligence may discover that a strong algorithm patent does little to rescue a product whose licensing chain cannot support commercialization in Europe.

As of 30 July 2026, the UK Intellectual Property Office has placed trade mark Third-Party Observations (TPOs) into a dedicated online filing route and lists the procedure as free in its updated trade mark forms and fees guidance. Any person may submit material after an application has been accepted for publication but before registration, drawing attention to facts or absolute-ground objections that may have been missed during examination. A TPO is not a formal opposition and the UKIPO is not bound to act on it; submissions based on earlier rights are generally outside this route, while the material may be sent to the applicant and made available for public inspection. Filers should therefore manage personal details carefully rather than assume that online filing is automatically anonymous.

The new channel moves some disputes into the pre-registration stage, but it does not replace opposition, invalidity or revocation proceedings. Brand owners should distinguish between an examination point that can be raised through a TPO and a rights-based challenge that requires formal action within the statutory deadline. Cost planning also needs current dates: the UKIPO’s latest trade mark fee increases took effect on 1 April 2026, rather than remaining a future window. The government has previously indicated an intention to remove the series trade mark service, yet current filing guidance still permits up to six similar marks in one series application and no confirmed abolition date has been announced. Monitoring, evidence preparation, opposition deadlines and renewal budgets now need to be managed together; a TPO is a useful early intervention, not a low-cost substitute for contentious proceedings.

WIPO’s latest PCT practice update confirms that The Bahamas deposited its instrument of accession on 19 May 2026 and will become bound by the Patent Cooperation Treaty on 19 August 2026, bringing the system to 159 Contracting States. Any international application filed on or after that date will automatically include the designation of The Bahamas under country code BS. The country has also made a declaration under Article 64(5), stating that it does not consider itself bound by Article 59 on the referral of inter-State disputes to the International Court of Justice.

For applicants, the practical change is straightforward: no separate designation step will be needed when filing a PCT application after 19 August. The more relevant work comes later, when deciding whether to enter the Bahamian national phase and budgeting for local filing, translation, fee and representation requirements once those details are fully reflected in practice materials. The Article 59 declaration concerns treaty-level dispute settlement between States and does not alter the automatic designation of The Bahamas in new PCT filings.

This article updates our report of 19 July, “Mexico’s New Industrial Property Regulation Takes Effect on 23 July”.

Mexico’s new Regulations under the Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property took effect on 23 July 2026, replacing the framework in place since 1994. The rules refine electronic filing, notifications, evidence and administrative enforcement, and introduce a dedicated framework for online infringement proceedings. That online route is not yet fully operational, however: IMPI must still issue the implementing agreement, which the transitional provisions require within 18 months. Together with the statutory amendments that entered into force in April, the reform also sets maximum processing periods for certain cases, including up to five months for trademark applications without office actions or oppositions and up to one year from the start of substantive examination for patents, utility models and industrial designs.

At the international level, the PCT Assembly has approved IMPI as an International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority. Once operational, IMPI is expected to become the 26th PCT international authority, broadening search and preliminary examination options for applicants in Latin America and the Spanish-speaking market. Operations are expected to begin in 2027, but the precise date still depends on formal notification by IMPI and recognition by the relevant receiving Offices. For rights holders and applicants, the immediate priority is practical: review response calendars, preserve digital evidence more systematically and reassess future PCT search strategies, while avoiding the assumption that the online infringement system is already available or that a January 2027 launch date is fixed.