At present, it is not possible to divide an International Registration Designating Australia (IRDA). Proposed changes to the Common Regulations under the Madrid Agreement will come into force in February 2019, and will provide for division of IRDAs under the Madrid Agreement.
As a consequence, and because Australia provides for the division of domestic trade mark applications, Australia is obliged as a signatory of the Madrid Agreement to amend the Trade Marks Act 1995 and related regulations to give effect to the amendments to the Common Regulations.
In doing so, IP Australia will need to consider any associated or consequential changes to the process for seeking divisionals of domestic trade mark applications, to ensure that the process for domestic trade mark applications and IRDAs is consistent for all IP Australia customers.
Consultation 30-Aug-2017 to 17-Nov-2017
Policy development 20-Nov-2017
High priority, as changes to the Common Regulations under the Madrid Agreement come into force in February 2019.
IP Australia response to public consultation has been published. IP Australia proposes to implement divisionals for IRDAs on the same basis and with the same timeframes as divisional applications for national applications, before the end of 2020.
IP Australia also proposes to conduct a holistic review of trade mark timeframe issues (including divisional timing) in the future when the implementation of the Government’s response to the PC’s review of Australia’s IP arrangements is complete.