Registered Designs consultation

IP Australia has started consultations on policy issues to implement the accepted recommendations arising from ACIP’s 2015 Report. There is also “a more holistic review of the designs ecosystem, as part of the Designs Review Project”, but these proposals don’t relate to that.

In an interesting development, IP Australia has prepared a quick video overview.

There are three “key” topics as part of the current review:

  1. Examining the scope of design protection
  2. Early flexibility for designers
  3. Simplifying and clarifying the designs system

IP Australia’s website summarises the topics addressed by Examining the scope of design protection as including:

  • whether it should be possible to seek protection for partial designs;
  • whether screen displays, screen icons and GUIs should be protectible as designs; and
  • how s 19 works.

Early flexibility for designers addresses matters such as:

  • introducing a grace period;
  • delaying publication of design applications so that they can be synchronised with launch dates;
  • and getting rid of the pointless “publication” option.

Simplifying and clarifying the designs system trots out yet again the “technical” proposals to simplify and clarify the system. While previously these proposals were going to be the subject of a bill, now:

IP Australia seeks any views on these proposals, including their relative priorities, to help understand how and when they should be progressed.

If you want to contribute a submission, you should do so by 20 December 2019

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