Laws and Regulations under TRIPS Art. 63.2 - View details of the document

Australia
Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Productivity Commission Response Part 1 and Other Measures) Act 2018 (“the Act”).
The Act (and Regulations - see separate notification) implement the first part of the Australian Government’s response to the Productivity Commission’s 2016 report into Australia’s IP arrangements. In particular, the Act makes the following changes: • Amend the Trade Marks Act 1995 to clarify the circumstances in which the parallel importation of trade marked goods does not infringe a registered trade mark, and make a consequential amendment to the Copyright Act 1968 to repeal a provision which is redundant as a result. • Amend the Trade Marks Act 1995 to change the time period that must elapse before certain non-use actions of trade mark can be taken. • Amend the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act 1994 to close a loophole to improve how essentially derived variety declarations can be made for plant breeder’s rights. • Amend the Patents Act 1991 to remove a requirement for patentees to provide certain data relating to pharmaceutical patents with an extended term. • Amend the Trade Marks Act 1991, Designs Act 2003, Patents Act 1990 and Plant Breeders Rights Act 1994 to implement a number of measures intended to streamline and harmonise the administration of the Australian IP system.
Schedule 1, Parts 2 and 4 and Schedule 2, Parts 1, 4, 5, 13, and 15-21 of the Act commenced on 25 August 2018. Schedule 1, Parts 2 and 3, and Schedule 2, Parts 2, 3, 6-12, and 14 commenced on 24 February 2019.