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Multilateral agreements

Multilateral IP Agreements to which Australia is a party – excluding copyright related agreements

World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)

The TRIPS Agreement provides minimum standards of IP protection with members having flexibility to determine the appropriate method of implementing the provisions of the Agreement within their own legal system and practice. The TRIPS Agreement is administered by the WTO and all WTO members are contracting parties to the TRIPS Agreement.

Article 2 of TRIPS incorporates all substantive provisions of the Paris Convention. It states that members are to comply with Articles 1 through 12 and Article 19 of the Paris Convention.

As is usual in IP conventions, TRIPS contains national treatment provisions, under which the nationals of other members must be given treatment no less favourable than that accorded to members own nationals with regard to intellectual property protection.

There is also a Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) provision-a first in an IP convention. Under this provision, with certain well established exceptions, any advantage or benefit a member gives to the nationals of another member country must be extended immediately and unconditionally to the nationals of all other members-even if this treatment is more favourable than that which it accords to its own nationals.

The TRIPS Agreement also includes provisions for the prevention and settlement of disputes in respect of the implementation of its provisions.

As of 10 July 2008 there were 152 members of the World Trade Organisation. Developing countries had until 1 January 2005 to implement the provisions of the Agreement. Least developed countries had until 2006 – this has now been extended until 1 January 2016 with respect to pharmaceutical patents. Australia became party to this Agreement on 1 January 1995 when it first came into force. A list of WTO members can be found on the WTO website.

Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property

The Paris Convention is concerned with the protection of industrial property, which includes patents, industrial designs and trade marks, and with the repression of unfair competition.

In a key provision the convention requires each member country to accord nationals of other member countries the same rights for their industrial property as it accords to its own nationals. It provides a right of priority for applicants for patents, trade marks and designs in any of the member countries deriving from the date of the first application for the invention, trade mark or design concerned in any other member country, provided the subsequent applications are made within a prescribed period (12 months for patents and utility models, and 6 months for industrial designs and marks) after the first application. As mentioned above, Member countries of the WTO are required to comply with the substantive provisions of the Paris Convention.

The convention does not seek to establish a uniform international industrial property system as such, but rather to establish an international framework upon which the national laws of its member countries can be built.

As of 10 July 2008, there were 173 members of the Paris Convention. Australia has been a member since October 1925. A list of member countries can be found here.

International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV)

The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) was established by the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV Convention). The UPOV Convention was adopted on December 2, 1961, by a Diplomatic Conference held in Paris.

The UPOV Convention came into force on August 10, 1968 and was revised on November 10, 1972, on October 23, 1978, and on March 19, 1991, in order to reflect technological developments in plant breeding and experience acquired with the application of the UPOV Convention.

Australia became a member of UPOV in 1989 by acceding to the version of the Convention in place at that time (UPOV 1978). Subsequently a revised Convention was negotiated in March 1991. UPOV 1991 entered into force on 24 April 1998 and Australia became a member of the revised Convention on 20 January 2000. There are 65 contracting parties, as at 10 July 2008.

For more information, visit http://www.upov.int/en/about/upov_convention.htm

Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)

The Patent Cooperation Treaty provides a unified system through which to apply for patent protection in member countries. The PCT permits the filing of a single international application in a member country to have the effect of a national filing in each of the 139 member countries (as at 10 July 2008) unless indicated otherwise by the applicant under Rule 4.9(b) of the PCT Regulations.

The international application is subjected to a mandatory international search and may undergo an international preliminary examination before each designated country determines under its national laws whether to grant or refuse a patent.

Australia has been a member of the PCT since March 1980. IP Australia (the Australian Patent Office) acts as a receiving office, international searching authority and international preliminary examining authority under the PCT.

Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks

The Madrid system of international registration of marks is applicable among the countries party to the Madrid Agreement or the Madrid Protocol.

This system gives a trademark owner the possibility to have their mark protected in several countries by simply filing one application with a single Office, in one language, with one set of fees in one currency (Swiss francs).

An international registration produces the same effects as an application for registration of the mark made in each of the countries designated by the applicant. If protection is not refused by the trade mark Office of a designated country within a specified period (12 or 18 months), the protection of the mark is the same as if it had been registered by that Office. The Madrid system simplifies greatly also the subsequent management of the  mark, since it is possible to record subsequent changes (such as a change in ownership or a change in the name or address of the holder) or to renew the registration through a simple single procedural step with the International Bureau of WIPO. Further countries may be designated subsequently

Australia has been party to the Madrid Protocol since July 2001. As of 10 July 2008 there are 76 contracting parties to the Madrid Protocol.

Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure

The Budapest Treaty provides for the deposit of microorganisms in an international depositary authority (IDA) where a deposit is necessary to satisfy the descriptive requirements of patents legislation for inventions involving a microorganism or the use of a microorganism. The deposit assures access to the microorganism by persons other than the inventor for the purposes of testing or experimenting, or for commercial use when the patent expires.

Under the treaty a member State which allows or requires the deposit of microorganisms for the purposes of patent procedure must recognise, for such purposes, one deposit of a microorganism with any IDA, irrespective of its location.

As of 10 July 2008, there were 68 contracting parties of the Budapest Treaty. Australia has been a member since July 1987. The National Measurement Institute (formerly Australian Government Analytical Laboratories) acquired the status of an IDA in September 1988.

Trademark Law Treaty

The Trademark Law Treaty (TLT) has 40 states which are party to the treaty, as of 10 July 2008. The TLT is part of a group of treaties that defines internationally agreed basic standards of intellectual property protection in each country. The TLT is aimed at making national and regional trademark registration systems more user-friendly by simplifying and harmonising procedures.

For more information, please follow this link: http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/tlt/index.html

Nice Agreement for the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks

The Nice Agreement established a classification which consists of a list of 34 classes for marks which are applied to goods and 11 classes for marks which relate to services. There is also an alphabetical list of goods and services comprising approximately 11 000 items.

As of 10 July 2008, there were 82 members of the Nice Agreement. Australia became a member in April 1961 and uses the classification of goods and services which has been developed under the Nice Agreement.

Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification

The Strasbourg Agreement established an international system for the classification of patent documents to identify noteworthy technical content. The purpose behind the agreement is to replace the individual classification systems of national patent offices by a uniform classification system for patent documents of all member countries, thus facilitating information retrieval and international comparisons.

As of 10 July 2008, there were 58 members of the Strasbourg Agreement. Australia became party to the agreement in November 1975. The International Patent Classification (IPC) has been the sole classification system used for Australian patent documents since 1976.

Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

WIPO is an intergovernmental organisation with headquarters in Geneva and is one of the 16 United Nations specialised agencies. WIPO is responsible for promoting intellectual property throughout the world through cooperation among member states and for the administration of various unions, each founded by a multilateral treaty and dealing with the legal and administrative aspects of intellectual property.

WIPO was established in 1970, but its origins go back to 1883 and 1886 with the Paris and Berne Conventions. As of 10 July 2008, there were 184 members.

Australia has been a member of WIPO since August 1972 and was a member of its predecessor, the United International Bureau for the Protection of Intellectual Property (BIRPI).