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Australian government agency From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
IP Australia is an Australian Government agency, responsible for administering intellectual property law in Australia. The agency manages the registration of patents, trade marks, registered designs and plant breeder's rights in Australia. The agency sits under the Department of Industry, Science and Resources. From 1904 until 1998, the responsible government agency was called the Australian Patent Office (APO), which is now a division within IP Australia. The headquarters are located at Discovery House in Canberra, Australia, with offices in some capital cities. IP Australia has been an International Searching Authority (ISA) and International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA) for patent applications filed in accordance with the Patent Co-operation Treaty since 31 March 1980.[5] Australia is also a member of the Madrid system for trade marks, the Paris Convention for designs and the UPOV for plant breeder's rights.
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 25 February 1998[1] |
| Jurisdiction | Australian Government |
| Employees | 1,053 (FY21–22)[2] |
| Minister responsible | |
| Agency executives | |
| Website | ipaustralia |
IP Australia exercises its authority under a number of Commonwealth laws:
Patent examiners are generally scientists and engineers who do not necessarily hold law degrees but have received legal training in patent law. "A patent examiner is hired based on their technical expertise, their professional qualifications and possibly their industry experience. They then undergo training within the office, and we use competency based training. An examiner will take somewhere between 12 to possibly 18 months to become what is called an acceptance delegate. That means they are assessed to be competent to assess a patent application and make a decision about it qualifying or satisfying all of the legislative provisions."[14] [June 2009].
"If you have not attained the Commissioner of Patents Acceptance Delegation within two years of the date on which you commence duties, you may have failed to meet a condition of your engagement, failed to complete your entry-level training courses and you may lack an essential qualification for the performance of your duties. Consequently, it is likely that immediate action will be taken to terminate your employment."[15] [October 2010]
"APO is pursuing a medium-term strategy of continuing to engage patent examiners so that we can reduce that backlog during a time when our work is a little bit quieter, so that when economic activity picks up again we will be well placed. That is adding to our costs for patent examiners, in particular where we have continued to recruit."[16] [June 2009]
To be an ISA, APO must have "at least 100 full-time employees with sufficient technical qualifications to carry out searches." [PCT Reg. 36.1 (i)][17]
 | This section may contain information not important or relevant to the article's subject. (April 2023) |
In 2001, the Australian Patent Office within IP Australia introduced a system that immediately granted "innovation patents" for applications which pass a formalities test. Innovation patents are aimed at providing protection for short market life products. To demonstrate the absurdity of the system, an innovation patent application was filed for the wheel and granted automatically by IP Australia.[33][35] The applicant, lawyer John Keogh, was awarded an Ig Nobel Prize (a satirical award within the fields of STEM for things that are unusual, imaginative or goofy) for his patent of the wheel.[35]
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