Technical Cooperation Activities under TRIPS Art. 67. - View details of the document

Australia

  1. Australia is committed to sharing information with other WTO Members on its technical and financial cooperation activities in the area of intellectual property rights in fulfilment of Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreement. This is a full report on Australia's intellectual property-related technical cooperation activities with developing and least developed countries. It builds upon annual update reports provided in 2012 (document IP/C/W/582/Add.2), 2013 (document IP/C/W/593/Add.7), 2014 (document IP/C/W/601), 2015 (document IP/C/W/610/Add.4), 2016 (document IP/C/W/617/Add.1), 2017 (document IP/C/W/632/Add.1), 2018 (document IP/C/W/647/Add.2) and 2019 (document IP/C/W/655/Add.4).
  2. Australia fulfils its Article 67 technical cooperation commitment through multilateral, regional and bilateral programmes and activities. Many activities are focused on developing and least developed countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Australia works closely with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat and other partners to assist developing and least developed countries to build their intellectual property capacity and systems.
  3. Many of the technical cooperation activities implemented under Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreement align with Australia's strategic focus on using aid as a catalyst to promote economic growth and poverty reductio This is embedded in the UN Sustainable Development Goals and our future investments, including activities under the WIPO-Australia Funds in Trust programme, will in turn be influenced by these goals.
  4. Websites containing information on Australia's intellectual property regime, which may be considered a technical cooperation resource, include the IP Australia website covering patents, designs, trademarks and plant breeders' rights (ipaustralia.gov.au); the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications website on copyright developments (www.communications.gov.au/what-we-do/copyright); and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website on international IP developments (www.dfat.gov.au/ip).

Australian activities with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

Australia-WIPO Funds in Trust

  1. In December 2019, the Australian Government and WIPO agreed to a third iteration of the Australia-WIPO Funds in Trust (FIT3) with the commitment of an additional AUD 800,000 of aid for trade funding. The Australian-funded FIT3 programme will run until 30 June 2021. The Australian Government has previously provided AUD 5 million to WIPO from 2012 to 30 June 2019. This funding promotes economic growth in developing and least developed countries by helping these countries build their intellectual property regimes and capabilities in facilitating innovation, creativity, investment and technology transfer. There are four themes under Australia's FIT3 programme: development of the intellectual property system; technology transfer (knowledge transfer and commercialisation); addressing neglected tropical diseases; and copyright and related rights to assist the blind, visually impaired and other persons with print disabilities. Programmes implemented under this funding arrangement are developed in consultation with WIPO and the recipient countries. Beneficiaries are involved in project planning to ensure the programmes are well suited to their needs.
  2. The review period of this report (October 2019 – September 2020) has been dedicated to developing a workplan of activities under the third iteration of funding. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent travel restrictions a number of planned activities have been postponed. Capacity building activities are planned to be undertaken for trademarks, copyrights and patents.

3  Other multilateral and regional activities

  1. The AANZFTA's Economic Cooperation Support Program (AECSP) consists of the Economic Cooperation Work Program and the AANZFTA Support Unit located in the ASEAN Secretariat. The AECSP was established in 2010 as a five year programme with funding of AUD 20-25 million. The Programme, which was subsequently extended further, aims to support the ASEAN Secretariat in servicing the AANZFTA Joint Committee and its subsidiary bodies to assist ASEAN Members, particularly least developed countries, with AANZFTA's implementation. Intellectual property is a vital component of the AECSP, with the objective being to 'provide comprehensive support for the development of sound and balanced intellectual property systems in the AANZFTA region'. The following paragraphs outline some of the intellectual property outcomes achieved under the AECSP with further detail provided in the annex to this report. 
  2. IP Australia's Regional Patent Examination Training (RPET) Programme successfully delivered intensive competency-based patent examination training to examiners of ASEAN Intellectual Property Offices that conduct substantive patent examinations, to enable them to meet international Patent Cooperation Treaty standards. This programme trained a number of patent examiners, helping to improve patent examination outcomes within the region. 
  3. In 2017, IP Australia designed a second phase of RPET to deliver sustainable results in embedding the RPET learnings and best practice into internal patent examination training (RPET Mentoring). Experienced IP Australia Mentors have been assigned to each participating office, and all countries have finished developing competency-based training modules customised to their national legislation and practice. These modules are being piloted with the assistance of the IP Australia Mentors.
  4. The second phase of RPET is scheduled to be wound down in December 2020.

 

mason.interlandi@dfat.gov.au

List of programmes/projects

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# Title of programme or activity Start date Beneficiary Members or observers  
1 Economic Cooperation Support Program under the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) 01/01/2010 Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; Indonesia; Lao People's Democratic Republic; Malaysia; Myanmar; Philippines; Thailand; Viet Nam
2 Funds in Trust - Development of an online training program on the Madrid System accession and implementation process 01/01/2020 Afghanistan; Albania; Angola; Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Armenia; Bahrain, Kingdom of; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belize; Benin; Bolivia, Plurinational State of; Botswana; Brazil; Brunei Darussalam; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cabo Verde; Cambodia; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Chile; Colombia; Congo; Costa Rica; Côte d'Ivoire; Cuba; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; Egypt; El Salvador; Eswatini; Fiji; Gabon; The Gambia; Georgia; Ghana; Grenada; Guatemala; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; Hong Kong, China; India; Indonesia; Israel; Jamaica; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Kenya; Korea, Republic of; Kuwait, the State of; Kyrgyz Republic; Lao People's Democratic Republic; Lesotho; Liberia; Macao, China; Madagascar; Malawi; Malaysia; Maldives; Mali; Mauritania; Mauritius; Mexico; Moldova, Republic of; Mongolia; Montenegro; Morocco; Mozambique; Myanmar; Namibia; Nepal; Nicaragua; Niger; Nigeria; North Macedonia; Oman; Pakistan; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Qatar; Russian Federation; Rwanda; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Samoa; Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of; Senegal; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; Singapore; Solomon Islands; South Africa; Sri Lanka; Suriname; Chinese Taipei; Tajikistan; Tanzania; Thailand; Togo; Tonga; Trinidad and Tobago; Tunisia; Türkiye; Uganda; Ukraine; United Arab Emirates; Uruguay; Vanuatu; Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of; Viet Nam; Yemen; Zambia; Zimbabwe
3 Funds in Trust - Accessible Books Consortium 01/01/2020 Indonesia; Viet Nam
4 AECSP - Regional Patent Examination Training Mentoring (RPET Mentoring) 01/06/2017 Indonesia; Malaysia; Philippines; Thailand; Viet Nam
5 International Fund for Cultural Diversity 01/01/2010