regulations

Registered designs consultation

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IP Australia has released exposure drafts of the proposed:

As the naming of the draft legislation indicates, these amendments are intended to implement the Government’s acceptance of the simpler, or less controversial, recommendations made by ACIP.

IP Australia’s landing page for the consultations states that proposals included in the draft include:

  • “Introducing a 12 month grace period to help protect designers from losing their rights through inadvertent disclosures made prior to filing.
  • “Expanding the existing limited prior use defence to protect third parties who started preparations to make a design before someone else tried to register it.
  • “Simplifying the design registration process by removing the publication option and making registration automatic six months after filing
  • “Aligning with the other IP Rights by giving exclusive licensees legal standing to sue for infringement
  • “Making several technical improvements to the Designs Act”.

You can find some background, including links to the various consultation papers, ACIP’s Review of the Designs System on the landing page.

If you are planning to submit comments, they should be in by 28 August 2020.

The landing page says that a number of proposals which are not being progressed in the draft legislation at this stage are still under consideration and invites your comments via IP Australia’s Policy Register. Proposals identified are:

  • “Protection of partial designs – Policy ID 42
  • “Protection of virtual, non-physical and active state designs – Policy ID 43
  • “Clarify ambiguity in section 19 of the Designs Act – Policy ID 35 
    Please note the part of this proposal relating to the standard of the informed user will be progressing and is included in the draft legislation
  • “Clarification of ‘registered’ and ‘certified’ designs – Policy ID 37
  • “Some of the amendments proposed in Recommendation 18 of the ACIP Designs Review (18b, 18d, 18e and 18g are not progressing at this time) – Policy ID 45“.

Registered designs consultation Read More »

Service providers and safe harbours

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According to Parliament’s website, the Copyright Amendment (Service Providers) Bill 2017 passed its third reading in the Senate and has now had its first reading in the House of Representatives.[1]

Instead of amending the definition of persons who can (potentially) claim the benefit of the online safe harbours to accord with the definition of service provider required under the Australia – United States Free Trade Agreement,[2] it will extend the class of potential beneficiaries from carriage service providers to what may broadly be described as “the education, cultural and disability sectors”.

To implement this impending development, the Department of Communications and the Arts has released a consultation paper on on draft Copyright Amendment (Service Providers) Regulations 2018 (you have to scroll down to get to the links for (a) the consultation paper itself and (b) the draft regulations).

If you are in one of those sectors or a rights holder with concerns, you need to get your submissions in by 29 June 2018.

  1. Both these events occurred on 10 May 2018.  ?
  2. See art. 17.11.29(xii): “For the purposes of the function referred to in clause (i)(A), service provider means a provider of transmission, routing, or connections for digital online communications without modification of their content between or among points specified by the user of material of the user’s choosing, and for the purposes of the functions referred to in clause (i)(B) through (D), service provider means a provider or operator of facilities for online services or network access.”  ?

Service providers and safe harbours Read More »

Raising the Bar update

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Following the conclusion of consultations about the draft Intellectual Property Legislation Amendment Regulations (the regulations to implement the “Raising the Bar” amendments), IP Australia has published a document outlining the outcomes of the consultation process.

The document outlines what IP Australia is proposing to do/implement in relation to:

 

Schedule 1

 

  • preliminary search and opinion
  • search fee
  • priority date
  • other things

 

Schedule 3

 

  • filing of evidence in oppositions
  • extensions of time to file evidence
  • confidentiality
  • fees for notice of intention to defenddefence (TM oppositions) (lid dip: Andrew Sykes)
  • cooling off period for patent oppositions (not in the public interest)
  • dismissing trade mark oppositions for inadequately particularised grounds
  • document service
  • no changes to basis for adding grounds / particulars to a notice of opposition
  • no change to costs provisions

 

Schedule 4

 

  • suspension regime for patent / trade mark attorneys will be retained

 

Schedule 5

 

  • customs seizure: regulations will be amended to require importers to provide full name, telephone number and address for service in ‘claim for release’ forms
  • email address will not be made mandatory

 

Schedule 6

 

  • applicants for patents will have 2 months to respond to a direction to request examination after examination has been deferred
  • acceptance period after 1st report on patent application has been issued will be reduced to 12 months
  • “IP Australia will not require a statement of entitlement at filing for standard patents (or at national phase entry for PCT applications). Instead, the statement will be required when the applicant requests examination, as part of the approved form.” Applicants for an innovation patent will still need to provide the statement when filing the application
  • The Commissioner / Registrar will retain discretion to decide whether hearings should be decided on the papers without oral presentation
  • Apparently, there are technical corrections that will be implemented to

Links to:

 

Public Consultation Update papers

IP Australia’s Press Release

 

 

IP Australia’s helicopter summary of Raising the Bar, more links and IP Australia’s summaries for patents, copyright, trade marks and designs.

Patentology looks at the good news for SMEs and some of the things rejected, here.

Raising the Bar update Read More »

Raising the bar reg.s 2.2

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Dr Summerfield has updated his marked up version of the reg.s to reflect the second tranche of the exposure draft regulations, here.

He also draws attention to the shortening time frames the exposure draft regulations will introduce.

You still need to get your comments in by 21 November 2012.

Raising the bar reg.s 2.2 Read More »

2nd tranche of Raising the Bar draft regulations

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IP Australia today released the second tranche of exposure draft regulations implementing the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Act 2012.

This tranche deals with schedule 3 (reducing delays in resolving patent and trade mark applications) and schedule 6 (simplifying the IP system).

Comments still need to be submitted by 21 November 2012.

Go here, and scroll down (past the first tranche if you already have them).

Dr Summerfield prepared a marked up version of the regs as the first tranche would amend them and discussed the new search fee implications.

2nd tranche of Raising the Bar draft regulations Read More »

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