Consideration of extending the jurisdiction of the Federal Magistrates Service to patent, trade marks and designs matters

Review commenced: 01/07/2002
Duration of review: 2001-2004

In the mid-late 1990s, some sectors of industry lobbied the Australian Government for a quicker, more cost effective mechanism to deal with IP disputes.

Following this lobbying, and the introduction of the Federal Magistrates Service (FMS), the Australian Government asked ACIP to examine and report on the possibility of the FMS jurisdiction being extended to hear IP matters. ACIP released an Issues Paper in July 2001 to seek the views of interested parties and forums were also held with interested parties. A Discussion Paper was released in July 2002. The Government released ACIP's Final Report on 19 February 2004 and the Government Response was issued on 5 April 2007.

Related Documents

Issues Paper 

Options Paper

Final Report extending Jurisdiction of Federal Magistrates

Final Report extending Jurisdiction of Federal Magistrates in PDF format [136.79 KB]

Government Response - consideration of extending the jurisdiction of the Federal Magistrates Service to patent, trade marks and design matters