Analysis on IP and Copyright Laws

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Requirement

What do you understand by intellectual property and copy right laws? Discuss the laws govern intellectual property and copy right law matters in Australia. Explain these laws from various perspectives (current legislation and standard, organisational policy, exceptions, contents, Infringement, enforcement and offshore protection. How you (as an “IP Australia” employee) will practice the laws to minimise the risk of offshore intellectual property lose?
Prepare a report on the above question.

Solution

Introduction

The intellectual property rights and the copy right laws make a business different from others. The unique assets of a business provide them with long term competitive advantages and can be an important source of revenue stream (Demeter et al.2017). Therefore, it is crucial for the businesses to protect their unique assets. The intellectual property rights and the copy rights help the organizations to protect their assets from being used or being copied by other businesses illegally. However to incorporate these laws within the organization and protecting the unique organizational assets, the businesses require having clear understanding on the IP and copyright acts. Purpose of the current report is analyzing the importance of intellectual property and copyright acts in Australia and the importance of these laws. Scope of the current study includes the current IP and copyright legislation in Australia. The report also includes discussion on how an IP Practitioner can reduce the risks related to intellectual property in off-shore.

Analysis on IP and Copyright Laws

The IP and copyright laws are treated with high importance around the world. In Australia also, protection of the IP and copyright is protected with great importance. Below are the IP and copyright related laws used in Australia.

(i) Intellectual property and copy right laws:

The intellectual property and IP related laws in Australia focuses on protecting the patents and trademarks used by the organizations. The IP and copyright legislations also focus on administering the plant breeder’s rights and the activities of the Registrars of Trade Marks and Commissioners of Patents (Rimmer, 2017). The laws also focus on providing guidelines to set the standards for registering the patents trademarks and the designs.
The Australian Legislation includes a number of acts preventing misuse of the trademarks, patents and innovative designs created by an organization or an individuals. The Patent Act 1990, provides the inventors with clear idea on the application and acceptance process of the patents. The Act also provides detailed discussion on the rights of patent owner, facts regarding ownership of a patent and validity of the patent. The Patents Legislation is useful for knowing outline of the requirements related to the approval of patents. In addition, the legislations also include well-defined guidelines required for re-examination of the patents. The Trade Marks Act 1995 provides the definition of trademarks. The act also offers clear understanding on the use of trademarks. In addition, the act covers the areas like rights of trademark owners, limitations of the trademarks and the ways to handle conflicts related to the trademarks. Protecting innovative designs is crucial for the organizations. The Design Act 2003 empowers the individuals and the businesses to protect the unique designs of their products by offering clear guidelines on the rights of design owners and use of innovative designs. The Plant Breeder’s right act provides the businesses with a definition of breeding and protecting their new ways of breeding plants.

(ii) Laws related to government IP and copyright in Australia:

Patent Act 1990: The Patent Act 1990 in Australia provides the guidelines for rights, ownership and validity of the patents. The patent Act also outlines the processes regarding application of a patent and accepting it (Mendis et al.2017). According to the Patent Act, ownership of the patent is granted to the inventor. However, a person authorized by the inventor can also obtain ownership of the patent. The law indicates that the patent can be granted by either an Australian citizen or by the citizen of any other country. 
As per the Patent Law, the patentee has right to protect the patent from being exploited by any other person during the patent period. The Australian Legislation allows co-ownership of the patents. In other words, the patent of an invention can be owned by two to more patentees together. In these cases, the each patentee retains equal share of the patent. However, selling of patents is also legal according to the Australian law. It indicates that the inventor may sell the patent to another person. In that case, the buyer would be considered as owner of the patent.
Patents Legislation 1991: The Patents Legislation outlines the requirements related to the grant of patents (Rimmer, 2017). However, the legislations also provide clear guidelines on re-examination of the patents. According to the legislation, the commissioner is responsible for granting date of the patent. The commissioner can specify any other particular for the patent also, if found necessary. The patents required for pharmaceutical products may be extended in future. The current legislation related to the patents specify the processes for extending the a guidelines. A patent may need to be re-examined if needed. The patents Legislation 1991 indicates that re-examination of a patent is required before the priority date even if it does not involve any inventive step. Examination of the unique products is one of the most crucial steps for granting patents. The Legislation Act 1991 offers detailed requirements for carrying out the experiments. Analysis on the legislation also indicates that in Australia, involvement of the inventor is allowed while examining the unique products. It indicates that the Australian Legislation focuses on implementing a fair and efficient legislation system by enforcing the law.
Trade Marks Act 1995: The Trade Marks Act 1995 includes the definition of trademarks and provide clear guidelines for using it. According to the Trade Marks Act 1995, trade mark indicates a sign that is generally used by the businesses or is expected to be used by the businesses with the intention to distinguish the products and services offered by an organization (Cade & Saunders, 2017). The Australian Legislation provides clear guidelines on the signs which cannot be used as the trademarks. According to the Legislation, the signs provided by the legislation may not be used as a trademark. Even the Australian law prohibits the companies from using part of the signs as trademark.
If any sign affect any of the registered trademarks, its use should be prohibited. Along with the registered trademarks, the Australian Government also focuses on protecting the trademarks that have been used before enforcement of the law in good faith. If the new signs impact on these signs, the use of such signs becomes prohibited.
Upon registering the trade marks, the owners in Australia enjoy some rights. One of the crucial rights that the owner enjoys is, using the trademark freely as per the law. The Australian legislation also empowers the owners to authorise other individuals for using the trademark if needed (Legislation.gov.au.,2018). Such rights are applicable to the organizations which offer goods and services. The current discussion indicates that the Australian regulations aim at protecting the unique trademarks from being misused. Therefore, it clearly specifies the rights an individual has becomes able to enjoy on receiving ownership of the trademark. However, the legislation also specifies that use of the trademark should be done on any matter related to the goods or services for which the trademark was registered. 
The Australian Legislation provides clear specifications for the situations which deal with infringement of the trademarks. As per the law, in case of infringement, the owner can obtain relief. The trademark owner becomes able to enjoy the rights on the registered signs from the dae on which the trademark was registered.
In some situations, the trademarks are subjected to some conditions or restrictions. In such cases, owners of the trademarks also become subjected to the same restriction or limitations.
Just like the patents, the Australian Legislation allows more than two individuals to get the ownership of the trademarks. In such situations, the individuals obtain a joint ownership of the trademark and rights of the trademark are enjoyed by each of them individually.
The Australian Legislation defines nature of the trademarks (Legislation.gov.au.,2018). According to the legislation, the trademark is considered as a personal property. In other works, the trademark and the rights associated with it can be used by an individual in such way as the personal property and the associated rights are used by the individuals.
 The trademarks may be subject to several limitations also. In some cases a trademark may have some similarity with the other signs. Such trademarks may represent one good or service or may be used for any other good or service. However, in such cases, the conflicts may arise and owner of one trademark can prevent the other owners from using the signs. However, the legislation reduces the chances of such conflicts by preventing the owners from limiting the use of any other similar trademarks.
Designs Act 2003: The Designs Act 2003 provides the base of taking decisions regarding ownership, use and right associated with the innovative designs. According to this act, the designer can be owner of the design (Legislation.gov.au.,2018). However, in case , the design is created by the designer because of employment or as part of a contract between two parties, in that case, the employer or the other party except the design obtains the title of owner. The rights associated with a design goes to the person who is assigned as the owner at the time of registration.
Plant Breeder’s Rights 1994: The Plant Breeder’s Act 1994 focuses on protecting interest of the breeders or the true owner in case of inventing a unique breeding technique or genetically modify the plant (Legislation.gov.au.,2018; Mendis et al.2017 ). The Act provides clear definition on the terms like breeding and genetic modification and so, the act can be used as a base of protecting unique plant related activities.

(iii) Minimizing the risk of offshore intellectual property loses: 

The Australian Legislation related to IP is not only effective to protect the innovative design and works by the individuals or the businesses, but such laws are effective for protecting the new technologies or any other invention at offshore locations. For Examples, the Patent Act of Australia provides the business owners with patent expansion opportunities for some products such as the pharmaceutical items. it, in turn, helps the organizations to expand their businesses in other markets without losing the IP property. On the flip, the plat Breeder’s rights also provide the breeders with unique opportunities for collecting royalty from any location. An IP professional should be aware of such facts and also be able to inform the businesses with such facts for protecting the IP properties at any location.

Conclusions

Analysis on the IP and copyright legislations of Australia indicates that the acts mainly focuses on specifying the rights of IP or copyright owners , the power they obtain from registering the designs, trademark or invention and the right use of IP properties. In addition, the acts also focus on reducing the conflicts among users, and specifying the limitations of each right. The legislation also aims at providing then suers with maximum protection to the suers, even at the outside locations also.

Recommendations

The IP and copyright laws of Australia covers vast aspects of the IP properties. With right utilization of these acts, businesses can protect their intellectual properties fully. However , in order to get most of these acts , the individuals or the users should be aware fully about all the amendments and expansion opportunities.

References

• Cade, A., & Saunders, M. (2017). Intellectual property: Content denied: ISPS ordered to block overseas piracy websites. LSJ: Law Society of NSW Journal, (31), 76.

• Demeter, D., Holmes, P., Howarth, S., & Johnson, M. (2017). Global legislative developments: An ACT law society panel discussion. Ethos: Official Publication of the Law Society of the Australian Capital Territory, (246), 38.

• Legislation.gov.au. (2018). Designs Act 2003. Legislation.gov.au. Retrieved 5 March 2018, from https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00044

• Legislation.gov.au. (2018). Plant Breeder's Rights Act 1994. Legislation.gov.au. Retrieved 5 March 2018, from https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C00046

• Legislation.gov.au. (2018). Trade Marks Act 1995. Legislation.gov.au. Retrieved 5 March 2018, from https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00046

• Mendis, D., Nielsen, J., Nicol, D., & Li, P. (2017). The co-existence of copyright and patent laws to protect innovation—a case study of 3D printing in UK and Australian law.

• Rimmer, M. (2017). A Submission on Indigenous Intellectual Property to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs and the Museums Galleries Australia-Indigenous Roadmap Project.

• Rimmer, M. (2017). The Trans-Pacific Partnership: Intellectual property, public health, and access to essential medicines. Intellectual Property Journal, 29(2), 277.