Home| Patent Attorney Registration | Trade Mark Attorney Registration | About | Publications | Registered Attorneys | Complaints

• Amendments to the current Patents Regulations 1991 and the Trade Marks Regulations 1995
• Consultation on the Incorporation of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys
• Board Meeting Dates

Amendments to the current Patents Regulations 1991 and the Trade Marks Regulations 1995

On 19 June 2008, the Federal Executive Council made the Patents and Trade Marks Legislation Amendment Regulations 2008 (No. 1) – ‘the amendment regulations’. The amendment regulations have been registered in the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments and will appear on the ComLaw website (www.comlaw.gov.au).

The new regulations change the employment and skills requirements for registration as a patent attorney. There is also a new requirement for registered patent and trade marks attorneys to undertake compulsory continuing professional development activities each year. Additionally, the discipline regime is simplified in that the Professional Standards Board for Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys (PSB) has sole responsibility for investigating and taking matters to the existing Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys Disciplinary Tribunal.

An Official Notice outlining the changes will appear in the Official Journals of Patents, Trade Marks and Designs on 26 June 2008.

In summary, the amendment regulations:

• require registered patent and trade marks attorneys to undertake compulsory continuing professional development activities for annual renewal of registration;
• amend pre-registration employment requirements for patent attorneys to be skills based;
• for patent attorneys, ensure that the qualification is in a field of technology that contains potentially patentable subject matter (for example, a field of science or engineering);
• introduce a new disciplinary regime that gives the PSB sole responsibility for investigating and taking matters to the existing Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys Disciplinary Tribunal; and
• amend key definitions of misconduct to bring them into line with definitions used by the broader legal profession.

Updated compilations of both the Patents Regulations and the Trade Marks Regulations can be found on the ComLaw website (www.comlaw.gov.au).

A pamphlet describing the amendments is available on this website (www.psb.gov.au). The PSB Website will be updated in stages over the next couple of weeks to reflect the changes.

An information session will also be held in Sydney on 27 June 2008. This session is being organised by IPSANZ and details are available at: www.ipsanz.com.au/events_sydney.html

Contact:          The Secretary,
                        Professional Standards Board for Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys
Phone:             (02) 6283 2345
Fax:                 (02) 6285 1048
E-mail:            mail.psb@ipaustralia.gov.au

Consultation on the Incorporation of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys

IP Australia is consulting on the preferred incorporation model for patent and trade mark attorneys following discussions with peak representative organisations.

The proposed model provides for individual patent attorneys to retain personal responsibility for discipline and complaints; a Code of conduct to apply to all individual attorneys within a company; and an incorporated patent attorney company must have at least one director who is a registered patent attorney. There will also be a compulsory requirement for all patent attorneys whether they are incorporated or not to have professional indemnity insurance.

As indicated in the consultation paper, written comments are sought by 30 November 2007."

Consultation paper for patent attorney incorporation - October 2007

Board Meeting Dates

• 27 & 28 November 2008.
• 26 & 27 March 2009
• 23 & 24 July 2009

The Secretary will accept applications for consideration at Board meetings up until 1 month before the meeting. This cut-off period is required by the Secretariat to check and collate relevant material and to request further information or documents from applicants.

Please contact the Secretary if you require any further information on Board meetings.