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IP Legislation
 Main
Acts and Regulations Administered by IP Australia
Decisions
under the Patents, Trade Marks and Designs Acts
Other
Legislation Administered by IP Australia
IP
and Related Legislation Administered by Other Agencies
Main Acts and Regulations Administered by IP Australia
IP Australia administers intellectual property (IP) legislation within the
portfolio responsibilities of the Department
of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.
The main Acts and Regulations administered by IP Australia are:
Note: The new Designs Act 2003 came into force on 17 June
2004.
This legislation provides the legislative basis for the patent, trade mark,
plant breeder's rights and design systems of Australia. It includes provisions
for:
- administering the Patent, Trade Marks, Plant Breeder's Rights and Designs
Offices, including the powers and functions of the Commissioner of Patents
and Registrars of Trade Marks, Plant Breeder's Rights and Designs;
- establishing and maintaining the patents, trade marks, plant varieties and
designs registers
- making and processing applications for granting standard or innovation patents,
granting plant breeder's rights and registering trade marks and designs;
- charging fees;
- publishing the Official Journals of Patents, of Trade Marks and of Designs
and the Plant Varieties Journal;
- prescribing the means to take infringement proceedings to protect and enforce
rights in patents, registered trade marks, registered plant varieties and
registered designs;
- registering patent and trade marks attorneys and prescribing their rights
of practice;
- accrediting approved persons to supervise and verify plant breeder’s
rights applications;
- prescribing the right of review of decisions of the Commissioner and Registrars
by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal; and
- prescribing the jurisdiction of courts in appeals against decisions of the
Commissioner and the Registrars.
Decisions under the Patents, Trade Marks, Plant Breeder’s
Rights and Designs Acts
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 Australian Intellectual Property Cases (AIPC). 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 also available from the AUSTLII
Law Site. Additionally, selected decisions of the Registrar of Trade Marks
from 1992 onwards are available online
from IP Australia.
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; and
- 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 be 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.
Federal Court links
Other Legislation Administered by IP Australia
The Olympic
Insignia Protection Act 1987 provides the Australian Olympic Committee Incorporated
with a monopoly in the Olympic insignia and provides that no one may use the
insignia in trade or commerce unless the Committee has granted a licence for
such use. This Act was amended in 2001 by the
Olympic Insignia Protection Amendment Act 2001 and in part now protects
the use of the words "Olympic", "Olympiad" (and their plurals)
and "Olympic Games" in advertising and promotion. The Sydney
2000 Games (Indicia and Images) Protection Act 1996, which assisted the
preservation of the financial integrity of the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic
Games, ceased operating on 31 December 2000.
The Scout
Association Act 1924 restricts the use of the name the 'Scout Association'
and provides for registration of the scout uniform, insignia and related matters.
IP and Related Legislation Administered by Other Agencies
The Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games (Indicia and Images) Protection Act
restricts the use of key words, phrases and images associated with the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games
and is administered by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. The Melbourne 2006 Act ceased operating on 30 June 2006.
The Advance
Australia Logo Protection Act 1984 provided the Advance Australia Company
with a monopoly in the copyright and design of the 'Advance Australia' logo.
Use of the more recent 'Australian Made' logo is subject to Division 1AA
of Part V of the Trade
Practices Act 1974, administered by the Department
of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.
The Copyright
Act 1968 and the Circuit
Layouts Act 1989 are administered by the Attorney-General's
Department (A-G's).
The Australian Customs Service (ACS) administers Division 7 of Part V of the Copyright Act 1968 and Part 13 of the Trade Marks Act 1995, which deal with importation of goods subject to Notices of Objection by IP rights holders. ACS also administers the Commerce (Trade Descriptions) Act 1905.
The Australian
Wine and Brandy Corporation Act 1980 is administered by the Department
of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - (DAFF).
The registration of business names is administered by various State
and Territory offices, while the registration of company names under
the Corporations Act 2001 is administered by the Department of the Treasury through the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Parts of the Trade Practices Act 1974 dealing with competition and consumer issues are administered by the Department of the Treasury through the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
Electronic addressing in Australia (internet domain name registration using
suffixes like 'com' and 'au') is mostly industry-regulated (see ICANN
and auDA), with relevant provisions in
Part 22 the Telecommunications
Act 1997 administered by the Department
of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA).
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