Extend jurisdiction of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia

Issue summary

Currently the only courts able to hear Patent matters are the Federal Court and the State supreme courts.

The Productivity Commission (PC) in its 2016 report into Australia’s IP arrangements recommended a specialist IP list in the Federal Circuit Court (FCC) — renamed Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia in September 2021 — akin to the United Kingdom’s Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC). The PC considers that this would provide a timely and low cost option for resolving IP disputes. The PC made this recommendation to reduce the expense of IP litigations, and improve access to justice and enforcement of IP rights, particularly for SMEs.

The Government noted this recommendation in its response to the PC report, and also noted that the FCC has commenced a pilot in its Melbourne Registry.