Information Publication Scheme (IPS)

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Part II of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) establishes the Information Publication Scheme (IPS) for Australian government agencies. This scheme, which took effect on 1 May 2011, requires agencies to publish a broad range of information on their websites or to make that information available online where possible.

We set out below the information we will publish under the IPS from the 1 May 2011.

The agency plan

Our IPS Agency Plan has been prepared in accordance with Part II of the FOI Act. We invite comments on the plan which can be submitted by e-mail at assist@ipaustralia.gov.au.

IP Australia Information Publication Scheme Agency Plan PDF [334 KB]

IPS Categories

Who we are

Agency organisation structure

We consist of six business groups that report to the Director General. Three business groups substantially make up the IP Rights Division and the remaining three provide support services to all business groups and the organisation.

Business Development & Strategy Group
Corporate Services Group
Business & Information Management Solutions Group
Customer Operations Group
Patent and Plant Breeder's Rights Group
Trade Marks & Designs Group

IP Australia's Organisation Chart PDF [90 KB]

Statutory appointments

Agencies are required to publish details of appointments of designated officers of the agency that are made under Acts, other than the appointment of APS employees within the meaning of the Public Service Act 1999. In IP Australia this requirement applies to the following:

IP Australia

Fatima Beattie, Deputy Director General of IP Australia, was appointed to the following positions under the stated provisions of each of the Acts for an unspecified period of time commencing on 13 September 2007;

Commissioner of Patents-section 207 of the Patents Act 1990
Registrar of Trade Marks-section 201 of the Trade Marks Act 1995
Registrar of Designs-section 122 of the Designs Act 2003
Registrar of Plant Breeder's Rights-section 58 of the Plant Breeder's Rights Act 1994

The Commissioner of Patents and the Registrar of Trade Marks also exercise powers and functions under two international arrangements; the Patent Cooperation Treaty and the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks.

Professional Standards Board

The Professional Standards Board (PSB) is a statutory body established under section 227A of the Patents Act 1990 and constituted under the Patents Regulations 1991 that:

accredits courses at tertiary institutions that satisfy the requirements of the regulations for registration of persons as patent and trade marks attorneys
assesses the tertiary qualifications of persons seeking registration as patent and trade marks attorneys
receives complaints, refers complaints or prosecutes complaints of unprofessional or unsatisfactory conduct made by clients of patent and trade marks attorneys to the Patent and Trade Marks Disciplinary Tribunal

The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research appoints members of the Board who are chosen for their relevant expertise. The current Board commenced its 3 year term in October 2010.

The current board members are:

Ms Lisa O'Neill (Chair) - Senior Principal Lawyer, QLD
Ms Karen Sinclair - Patent and Trade Marks Attorney, VIC
Dr Mark Horsburgh - Patent and Trade Marks Attorney, QLD
Professor Jill Mckeough - Academic, NSW
Ms Karen Spark - Patent and Trade Marks Attorney, SA
Dr Tania Obranovich Patent and Trade Marks Attorney VIC
Mr Greg West-Walker Patent Attorney AU & NZ
Mr Philip Noonan - Director General IP Australia (Ex-officio)

Patent and Trade Marks Disciplinary Tribunal

The Tribunal is a statutory body established under the Patents Regulations 1991. Its function is to deal with complaints of unsatisfactory or unprofessional conduct made against patents and trade marks attorneys. The current tribunal member, Ms Sigrid Higgins, was appointed on 30 March 2006 and her term expires on 26 April 2012. The new tribunal member is expected to be appointed in May 2012.

The Plant Breeder's Rights Advisory Committee

The Plant Breeder's Rights Advisory Committee (PBRAC) is an independent statutory committee established under Part 7 of the Plant Breeder's Rights Act 1994. PBRAC advises the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research and the PBR Registrar on technical and administrative matters relating to PBR and acts as an industry advisory forum. The Minister has appointed the following members from 23 October 2009 for a period of three years from that date.

The current PBRAC members are:

Mr Doug Waterhouse - Chair (Chief of PBR, IP Australia)
Mr Christopher Prescott - Representing Plant Breeders
Mr Denis McGrath - Representing Plant Breeders
Mr Kerrie Gleeson - Representing Users
Mrs Penny Hendy - Representing Consumers
Professor Robert Henry - Representing Conservation Interests
Mr John Collyer - Representing Indigenous Interests
Professor Brad Sherman - Member with Appropriate Qualifications

What we do

Functions and powers

We are a prescribed agency under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997, operating within the Innovation, Industry, Science and Research portfolio. It is the agency responsible for administering Australia's intellectual property (IP) rights system in relation to patents, trade marks, designs and plant breeder's rights. We recover more than 95 per cent of our costs by charging fees for its IP rights services.

As well as granting exclusive rights under the statutes it administers, we:

advise the Australian Government on IP policy
provide IP advice and education services to the business community
regulate the IP profession
contribute to bilateral and multilateral negotiations and development cooperation programs for the benefit of the Australian economy and society

We administer the following Commonwealth legislation:

A number of statutory offices and bodies are established under that legislation to administer it. A list follows, including the provision that establishes the office or body:

Commissioner of Patents-section 207 of the Patents Act
Deputy Commissioner(s) of Patents-section 208 of the Patents Act
Designated Manager-section 200A of the Patents Act
Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys Disciplinary Tribunal-regulation 20.61 of the Patents Regulations
Plant Breeder's Rights Advisory Committee-section 63 of the Plant Breeder's Rights Act
Professional Standards Board for Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys-section 227A of the Patents Act
the Registrar of Designs-section 122 of the Designs Act
Deputy Registrar(s) of Designs-section 123 of the Designs Act
Registrar of Plant Breeder's Rights-section 58 of the Plant Breeder's Rights Act
Registrar of Trade Marks-section 201 of the Trade Marks Act
Deputy Registrar(s) of Trade Marks-section 205 of the Trade Marks Act

The Commissioner of Patents and the Registrar of Trade Marks also exercise powers and functions under two international arrangements: the Patent Cooperation Treaty, and the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks.

The Professional Standards Board for Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys (PSB) administers the regulatory and disciplinary regimes for registered patent and trade marks attorneys in Australia. The Board:

determines academic qualifications required to become patent and trade mark attorneys
accredits courses that satisfy subject requirements under the relevant regulations
determines exemptions from requirements of a topic group or groups based on prior study
investigates complaints against patent and trade mark attorneys
where the Board considers it appropriate-prosecutes attorneys before the Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys Disciplinary Tribunal

The Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys Disciplinary Tribunal hears and determines prosecutions by the Board of complaints of unsatisfactory and unprofessional conduct against registered attorneys.

The Plant Breeder's Rights Advisory Committee (PBRAC) is established to advise the Minister on several specified matters, including the application of the Plant Breeder's Rights Act to groups of plant varieties. PBRAC also advises the Registrar of Plant Breeder's Rights on a range of technical matters relating to the administration of that Act.

Decisions under the Patents, Trade Marks, Plant Breeder's Rights and Designs Acts

Decisions of the Patent Office (since 1981), the Designs Office (since 1983) and the Trade Marks Office (since 1991), as well as appeals to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the Federal Court and the High Court, are available from the AUSTLII Law Site.

Selected decisions of the Commissioner of Patents, the Registrar of Trade Marks and the Registrar of Designs are published by Lexis Nexis Butterworths in the Intellectual Property Reports (IPR) and by CCH in the Australian Intellectual Property Cases (AIPC).

Decisions made under the Plant Breeder's Rights Act are published quarterly in the Plant Varieties Journal.

The progress of appeal proceedings before the Federal Court can be checked on the eSearch system at the Federal Court website. The information available through eSearch includes:

name of each participant in the case
type of each document filed in the case and the date on which it was filed
past and future hearing dates
current status of the case
where available, text of Orders made

The database is updated in real time and includes all cases that have commenced since 1 January 1984.

The progress of appeal proceedings before the Full Federal Court can also be checked at the Federal Court website.

For matters on appeal to the High Court, AUSTLII's High Court Bulletin lists cases reserved and those granted or refused special leave.

Routinely provided reports and responses

Annual reports

We are required to contribute to the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (DIISR) annual report to Parliament. The relevant content covers an overview, our outcome performance (including sub-program results) and our management & accountability (including financial statements).

Parliamentary information

We will publish information it holds that is routinely provided to the Parliament in response to Senate Procedural Orders of Continuing Effect including:

Departmental policy related file lists (the "Harradine Order")

IP Australia File List

Contracts

Departmental Contracts ($100,000 or more).

Advertising/Public Information Projects ($100,000 or more).

For all contracts above $10,000, please refer to Tenders, Contracts and Files.

Routinely requested information

FOI Disclosure Requirement

Amendments to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), which commenced on 1 May 2011, require agencies to publish copies of material released to FOI applicants within 10 days of the relevant decision.

We will provide access to copies of released documents and include a brief description of those documents in the FOI Disclosure Log. Please note that the list of documents in the log is not exhaustive and does not include the following:

documents of a personal or commercially valuable nature released under the FOI Act where publication would be unreasonable
documents to which access has been refused or which are exempt from release under the FOI Act
documents which have been released to the media or members of the public outside of the FOI framework

It is hoped that this measure will enable members of the public and the media to quickly and easily obtain access to material which has already been released under the FOI Act.

We will endeavour to meet all reasonable requests for an alternate hardcopy form of a document listed without charge.

Consultation arrangements

Our consultation process is guided by the Australian Government Best Practice Regulation Handbook.

We also host a number of advisory and industry fora involved in consultation processes supporting the development of new policies.

The Advisory Council on Intellectual Property (ACIP) is an independent body appointed by the Government. ACIP advises the Federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research on intellectual property matters and the strategic administration of IP Australia.

The Council's membership reflects a cross section of stakeholders of the intellectual property system, and includes individuals from both large and small businesses, the legal and attorney professions and academia.

We also engages with our stakeholders through:

the Business and Industry Forum (BIF) comprised of a range of industry and government representatives
the IP Professionals Forum (IPPF)-patent and trade marks attorneys, IP lawyers and other IP interest groups
the IP Forum (IPF)-the innovation community, including business leaders, innovative small to medium enterprises, IP academics and professionals
the Patents Consultation Group(PCG)
the Trade Marks Consultation Group (TMCG)
the Designs Consultation Group (DCG).

The three IP rights consultation groups have common members which include representatives from the Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia (IPTA), the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys of Australia (FICPI), the Law Council of Australia (LCA) and the Australian Manufacturers' Patents, Industrial Designs, Copyright and Trade Mark Association (AMPICTA).

Contact officers

Contact details for access to our information or documents under the FOI Act (s 8(2)(i)) are as follows:

Information Access Unit
Phone: 1300 65 1010
Email: FOI@ipaustralia.gov.au
Fax: (02) 6283 7999

Optional information

Our Priorities

Our Strategic Statement

Our Policies

The following is a list of policy documents relating to IP Australia's functions and responsibilities:

Official Journals

The Official Patent, Trade Mark and Designs Journals are produced by IP Australia on a regular basis and contain a range of information including material on new trade mark, design and patent applications/registrations. The online versions of the journals are searchable and PDF copies are available to download.

Patents, Trade Marks, Designs and Plant Varieties Online Journals

Search Databases

Patents, Trade Marks, Designs and Plant Breeder's Rights

IP Statistics

Our Submissions

IP Australia makes submissions to other agencies, industry bodies and Parliamentary committees, e.g. the Senate Community Affairs Committee Inquiry into Gene Patents.

Feedback

Any complaints about our handling of information under the IPS can be sent to us. You may use our customer feedback form, or any other contact points, to make an IPS complaint.

If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your request, you can complain to the Australian Information Commissioner who may investigate our actions. More information is available on the OAIC website. The Commonwealth Ombudsman can also investigate complaints about our actions. However, the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Information Commissioner will consult to avoid the same matter being investigated twice.

Links

Last Updated: 21/12/2012

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