Hon Jacqui Dean

Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs

17 March 2017
Media Statement

IPONZ world number one for online capabilities

The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) has been ranked number one in the world for its online capabilities by the World Trademark Review says Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Jacqui Dean.

“We are focused as a Government on providing an environment and the tools to help kiwi businesses get ahead, and it is great to have the efforts of IPONZ recognised on the international stage,” says Ms Dean.

“Whether registering for a patent, trade mark, design or plant variety right, it is easy for New Zealand businesses and entrepreneurs to apply for intellectual property (IP) rights online.

“In today’s global marketplace, IP can be a business’s greatest asset. Protecting brands, ideas and innovations help businesses to compete and stand out from the crowd.

“IPONZ was the first IP office in the world to move to a 100 per cent online model, making it simpler and cheaper for its clients to secure IP rights and get on with doing business,” says Ms Dean.

For these rankings, World Trademark Review compared IPONZ to the top 40 trade mark offices around the world. IPONZ was praised both for its online model, and as the only office in the world to offer third party access to its Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), allowing businesses to plug into the IPONZ system directly, reducing administrative effort, and increasing their access to information from the IP registers.

“These innovations from IPONZ are part of what makes New Zealand such a great place to do business, as highlighted by New Zealand’s number one ranking in the World Bank Ease of doing business report,” says Ms Dean.

ends

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