Draft IP Laws Amendment Bill and Regulations 2017 - Part 2: Examination, re-examination and reconsideration

Issue summary

The review mechanisms of the different IP rights essentially have the same purpose: to enable reconsideration of certain aspects of an accepted application or a granted IP right without the expense and delay in bringing opposition or court proceedings. However, the legislation and practices governing the review mechanisms have a number of problems and vary between the rights in a number of aspects, including the steps in the process, the transparency of the process, and the payment of fees.

Unsuitable processes and unnecessary differences between the IP rights create inefficiencies for users of these mechanisms and increase administration costs for IP Australia.

History

• On hold 4 September 2017
• Closed August 2020

Comments

Public consultation on this issue took place from November 2016 - February 2017.

In light of stakeholder feedback, and high priority proposals resulting from the Government's response to the PC inquiry this proposal has been downgraded to Medium priority. This issue has been placed on hold for further consideration at a later date.

In previous consultations, there was no strong stakeholder support or pressing need for change. All rights have the ability for the Commissioner/Registrar to review grant decisions in appropriate circumstances.