28 February 2012: The Senate has passed important IP reforms in the form of the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Bill 2011, passed by the Senate on the 27th of February 2012. All parties endorsed the Bill and as a result no amendments were moved. The Raising the Bar Bill 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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