20 March 2012: The Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Bill 2012 was passed by the House of Representatives on 20 March 2012. The Bill must now receive the Governor General’s assent before becoming law. This is expected in the coming weeks and will have an immediate impact on exemptions for research and regulatory approvals. Other provisions within the Bill come into effect 12 months from assent.
Raising the Bar addresses six key areas:
- raising the quality of granted patents
- free access to patented inventions for regulatory approvals and research
- reducing delays in resolution of patent and trade mark applications
- assisting the operations of the IP profession
- improving mechanisms for trade mark and copyright enforcement
- simplifying the IP system.
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