IP Australia is open for business and continues to be committed to its customers and stakeholders. We are closely monitoring the latest information about the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Please refer to the Business continuity and the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak page last updated 15 July 2020 for the most up to date information. We acknowledge these are challenging and uncertain times for everyone.
For information on new government support for business see Business.gov.au.
The Government is seeking to phase out the innovation patent, as over time it has not achieved its intended objective. Economic evidence shows that the innovation patent system has a net cost of $11M per year to all Australian business, fails to incentivise research and development, and allows big business to block small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from innovating.
Amendments to the Patents Regulations 1991 will come into effect on 25 September 2019, which will simplify the filling of translations of patent documents and certificates of verification.
Building on recent reviews of the registered designs system in Australia, IP Australia has begun a holistic review of the design ecosystem: The Designs Review Project.
Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews today released the consultation report titled Protection of Indigenous Knowledge in the Intellectual Property System.
In June 2018 the Australian Government launched negotiations for a comprehensive and ambitious Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European-Union (EU). As part of the agreement, the EU are asking for Australia to protect a list of EU geographical indications (GIs).
A minor correction has been made to the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (PCT Translations and Other Measures) Regulations 2019 to ensure that it achieves its purpose of removing requirements to always file certificates of verification with translations of patent documents.
We’re updating AusPat’s older underlying search engine in our backend system as part of an ongoing program of work to modernise and transform service delivery for the benefit of staff and customers.
The IP Australia Corporate Plan 2019-20 has now been released.
IP Australia has released two economic research papers which provide new evidence for how Australia’s intellectual property (IP) systems are used. The first study explores the extent to which Australia’s trade mark register is cluttered with out-of-use or overly broad trade marks. The second study reveals which Australian industries make intensive use of registered design rights, and how Australia’s design economy compares to those of our international peers.
