IP Australia is an agency of the

Department of Industry, Innovation and Science The Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources was a department of the Australian Government responsible for consolidating the Government’s efforts to drive economic growth, productivity and competitiveness by bringing together indu ...

. IP Australia administers intellectual property rights and legislation relating to

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

trade marks A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from other ...

registered designs {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 The Commonwealth of Australia's ''Designs Act 2003'' replaced the ''Designs Act 1906''. The legislation assists in the protection of the overall appearance of a product resulting from one or more visual features of ...

and plant breeder's rights in Australia. The agency's precursor, the Australian Patent Office, was established in 1904 by the Commonwealth of Australia. Since 1998, IP Australia has been located in Discovery House in

Canberra, Australia Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The c ...

. In 2007 Discovery House was expanded to include a third wing allowing co-location of all personnel. The new west wing of Discovery House was officially opened on 31 October 2007 by the Governor-General, Major General

Michael Jeffery Major General Philip Michael Jeffery, (12 December 1937 – 18 December 2020) was a senior Australian Army officer and vice-regal representative. He was the 28th governor of Western Australia from 1993 to 2000, and the 24th governor-general of ...

AC CVO MC (Retd). In 2008-9 IP Australia opened a patent examination centre in Melbourne to accommodate 40 patent examiners. IP Australia has been an

International Searching Authority The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an international patent law treaty, concluded in 1970. It provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states. A patent application filed un ...

(ISA) and

International Preliminary Examining Authority The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an international patent law treaty, concluded in 1970. It provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states. A patent application filed un ...

(IPEA) for patent applications filed in accordance with the Patent Co-operation Treaty since 31 March 1980. Australia is also a member of the Madrid system for trade marks, the Paris Convention for designs and the

UPOV The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants or UPOV (french: link=no, Union internationale pour la protection des obtentions végétales) is a treaty body (non-United Nations intergovernmental organization) with headquar ...

for plant breeder's rights.

Statutory basis

The current legislation administered by IP Australia is: * ''Patents Act 1990'' * ''Patents Regulations 1991'' * ''Trade Marks Act 1995'' (except Part 13 which the

Australian Border Force The Australian Border Force (ABF) is a federal law enforcement agency, part of the Department of Home Affairs, responsible for offshore and onshore border control enforcement, investigations, compliance and detention operations in Australia. Thr ...

administers) * ''Trade Marks Regulations 1995'' * ''Designs Act 2003'' * ''Designs Regulations 2004'' * ''Plant Breeder's Rights Act 1994'' * ''Plant Breeder's Rights Regulations 1994''

Patent examiners

Patent examiner A patent examiner (or, historically, a patent clerk) is an employee, usually a civil servant with a scientific or engineering background, working at a patent office. Major employers of patent examiners are the European Patent Office (EPO), the Unit ...

s are generally scientists and engineers who do not necessarily hold law degrees but have received legal training in patent law. "A

patent examiner A patent examiner (or, historically, a patent clerk) is an employee, usually a civil servant with a scientific or engineering background, working at a patent office. Major employers of patent examiners are the European Patent Office (EPO), the Unit ...

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." une 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." ctober 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." une 2009 In order to be an ISA, APO must have "at least 100 full-time employees with sufficient technical qualifications to carry out searches." CT Reg. 36.1 (i)ref name="Regulations under the PCT">

Notable Australian patents

* On 4 August 1868,

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort Thomas Sutcliffe Mort (23 December 18169 May 1878) was an Australian industrialist who improved the refrigeration of meat. He was renowned for speculation in the local pastoral industry as well as industrial activities such as his Ice-Works in ...

and Eugene Nicolle filed Victorian Patent 1139 for "

Refrigeration The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...

". * On 25 March 1885

Hugh Victor McKay Hugh Victor McKay (21 August 1865 – 21 May 1926) was an Australian industrialist who is known for heading the company that developed the Sunshine Harvester, arguably the first commercially viable combine harvester. He subsequently establish ...

filed Victorian Patent 4006 for a " Sunshine Stripper Harvester". * On 13 February 1904 the first Federal Australian Patent Application was filed by Andrew Brown McKenzie for "Improvements in air leak preventative for Westinghouse and like brakes.". * On 21 December 1914

George Julius Sir George Alfred Julius (29 April 187328 June 1946) was an English-born Australian inventor and entrepreneur. He was the founder of Julius Poole & Gibson Pty Ltd and Automatic Totalisators Ltd, and invented the world's first automatic totalisa ...

filed Australian Patent 15133/14 for an " Automatic Totalizator". * On 22 November 1926 Hume filed Australian Patent 4843/26 for the "Spun Concrete

Pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circula ...

". * On 10 September 1947 George Shepherd filed Australian Patent 136548 pplication 15008/47ref name="Furniture Castors"> for Furniture Castors. * On 2 May 1955 Mervyn Victor Richardson filed Australian Patent 212130 pplication 8770/55ref name="Lawn Mower"> for the

Victa lawn mower Victa is an Australian manufacturer of outdoor garden equipment, including petrol and electric lawn mowers, edgers, trimmers, and chainsaws. They manufacture these in petrol & lithium-ion powered variants. However, Victa remains most well known fo ...

. * On 22 March 1956 Lance Hill filed Australian Patent 215772 pplication 16938/56ref name="Rotary Clothes Hoist"> for a fold-away handle design for the Hills rotary clothes hoist. * On 6 July 1970

Ralph Sarich Ralph Tony Sarich (born 10 December 1938 in Baskerville, Western Australia) is an Australian automotive engineer, inventor, and businessman who developed the orbital engine and the orbital combustion process engine. Sarich founded the Orbital ...

filed Australian Patent 467415 pplication 30650/71ref name="An Improved Rotary Motor"> for "An Improved Rotary Motor", which later became known as the "

Sarich orbital engine The Sarich orbital engine is a type of internal combustion engine, invented in 1972 by Ralph Sarich, an engineer from Perth, Australia, which features orbital rather than reciprocating motion of its central piston. It differs from the conceptual ...

". * On 3 November 1977 The University of Melbourne filed Australian Patent 519851 pplication 41061/78ref name="A Prothesis to Simulate Neural Endings"> for "A Prothesis to Simulate Neural Endings", invented by I. C. Forster. This became known as the " Cochlear Bionic Ear". * On 7 May 1982 Arthur Ernest Bishop filed Australian Patent 552975 pplication 15178/83ref name="Rack and Pinion Steering Gear"> for "

Rack and pinion A rack and pinion is a type of linear actuator that comprises a circular gear (the '' pinion'') engaging a linear gear (the ''rack''). Together, they convert rotational motion into linear motion. Rotating the pinion causes the rack to be driven ...

Steering Gear". This became known as the "Bishop Steering Gear". * On 6 July 1982 Norport Pty. Ltd filed Australian Patent Application 85668/82 for "Yacht Keel With Fins Near Tip", invented by

Ben Lexcen Benjamin Lexcen AM (born Robert Clyde Miller, 19 March 1936 – 1 May 1988) was an Australian yachtsman and marine architect. He is famous for the winged keel design applied to ''Australia II'' which, in 1983, became the first non-American ya ...

. This became known as the "

Winged keel The winged keel is a sailboat keel layout first fitted on the 12-metre class yacht ''Australia II'', 1983 America's Cup winner. Design This layout was adopted by Ben Lexcen, designer of ''Australia II''. Although Ben Lexcen "had tried the winged ...

" and was used on

Alan Bond Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s, and what was at the time ...

Australia II ''Australia II'' (KA 6) is an Australian 12-metre-class America's Cup challenge racing yacht that was launched in 1982 and won the 1983 America's Cup for the Royal Perth Yacht Club. Skippered by John Bertrand, she was the first successful ...

yacht during its successful challenge to the America's Cup in 1983. * On 13 October 1986 Norman Thomas Jennings filed Australian Patent Application 35064/71 for "Pelletted Poultry Manure Fertilizer" that later became more commonly known as "Dynamic Lifter". * On 19 July 1991,

CSL Limited CSL Limited is an Australian multinational specialty biotechnology company that researches, develops, manufactures, and markets products to treat and prevent serious human medical conditions. CSL's product areas include blood plasma derivative ...

and

The University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = Br ...

filed Australian Patent 651727 pplication 23666/92ref name="Papilloma Virus Vaccine"> for " Papilloma Virus Vaccine", invented by

Ian Frazer Ian Hector Frazer (born 6 January 1953) is a Scottish-born Australian immunologist, the founding CEO and Director of Research of the Translational Research Institute (Australia). Frazer and Jian Zhou developed and patented the basic technolog ...

and

Jian Zhou Jian Zhou (; 1957 – March 1999) was a Chinese virologist and cancer researcher, who with fellow researcher Ian Frazer, invented Gardasil and Cervarix, the vaccines for stimulating human immunological resistance to the cervical cancer-inducin ...

. This vaccine for cervical cancer is known as "

Gardasil Gardasil is an HPV vaccine for use in the prevention of certain strains of human papillomavirus (HPV). Text was copied from this source which is copyright European Medicines Agency. Reproduction is authorized provided the source is acknowledge ...

" or "

Cervarix Cervarix is a vaccine against certain types of cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV). Cervarix is designed to prevent infection from HPV types 16 and 18, that cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases. These types also cause most HPV-induced ...

". * On 27 November 1992, the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...

filed Australian Patent 666411 pplication 51806/93ref name="A Wireless LAN"> for "A

Wireless LAN A wireless LAN (WLAN) is a wireless computer network A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes. Wireless networking is a method by which homes, telecommunications networks and bus ...

", invented by John David O'Sullivan, Graham Ross Daniels, Terence Michael Paul Percival, Diethelm Ironi Ostry and John Fraser Deane. * On 11 August 1995,

Myriad Genetics Myriad Genetics, Inc. is an American genetic testing and precision medicine company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Myriad employs a number of proprietary technologies that permit doctors and patients to understand the genetic bas ...

, Inc. filed Australian Patent 686004 pplication 1995033212ref name="In vivo mutations and polymorphisms in the 17q-linked breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene"> for "In vivo mutations and polymorphisms in the 17q-linked breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility gene", invented by Donna M Shattuck-Eidens, Jacques Simard, Mitsuru Emi, Francine Durocher and Yusuke Nakamura. The patent claims the human

BRCA1 Breast cancer type 1 susceptibility protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''BRCA1'' () gene. Orthologs are common in other vertebrate species, whereas invertebrate genomes may encode a more distantly related gene. ''BRCA1'' is a h ...

gene. This patent provided the opportunity to test the legal validity of gene patents in the US. The US court held that composition patents were invalid, essentially because they are products of nature. This patent has yet to be tested in Australia. * On 24 May 2001,

John Michael Keogh John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

filed Australian Patent 2001100012 for "Circular Transportation Facilitation Device". This was, in simple fact, the

wheel A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction wi ...

. IP Australia was awarded an

Ig Nobel Prize The Ig Nobel Prize ( ) is a satiric prize awarded annually since 1991 to celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name of ...

in 2001 for granting this patent for one of the world's oldest known inventions. The patent was thereafter revoked on 30 August 2001.

Operational issues

Questionable grants

APO been criticised for granting patents for impossible or absurd, already known, or arguably obvious inventions. In 2001 APO introduced an Innovation Patent system in which immediate grant occurred 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

and granted by APO. For this grant, IP Australia was awarded an

in 2001. "This article in ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' says that the application drew attention to: … some of the more glaring inadequacies in Australian patent law, where any member of the public may lodge an innovation patent application online, pay a fee and have the application rubber stamped within a matter of a few weeks, no questions asked. It made people laugh but did nothing to reform Australian innovation patent law." ctober 2009

References and notes