4.3. Procedures for dealing with "fee" correspondence

3.1  Receipt of "fee" correspondence

3.1.1

The Receiver of Public Monies (RPM) captures the payment details into the electronic financial system.  This generates the date received, a receipt, and a batch number. Automatic receipting occurs in the case of electronic transactions received over the Internet. The receipt is given or sent to the customer and a copy is attached to the document.

3.1.2

All fee documents are stamped with the date of receipt in IP Australia.

3.1.3

Documents relating to trade marks are sent to the Administration area to be captured.

3.2  Processing "fee" correspondence once received in Administration

3.2.1

The documents are read and coded. (A list of all Trade Mark correspondence codes can be found in the COG Manual).

3.2.2

Underpayments will be clearly stamped on the documents with  fee information as a flag for the relevant examination or administration areas to take immediate action with regard to the document.

3.2.3

Overpayments will be clearly stamped on the document with fee information as a flag for the administration area to take immediate action with regards to a refund.

3.3  Filing and distributing "fee" correspondence

3.3.1

All correspondence is sent and added into the trade mark file management system (RIO).  Relevant tasks are created and sent to the work area for action.

3.3.2

New trade mark applications are checked to ensure they meet the Minimum Filing Requirements. Details of the new application are captured and a file is created in the trade marks database (RIO). This includes scanning of paper applications. Applications that do not meet Minimum Filing Requirements are retained for a period of 2 months, otherwise paper applications are held in storage for two months.

Part 3 Filing Requirements for a Trade Mark Application