February 08, 2017

Australia & New Zealand: trans-Tasman patent attorney regime

On February 24, 2017, a single patent attorney regime in Australia and New Zealand comes into force. The regime is introduced in the frame of the Single Economic Market agenda.

The new regime will simplify the registration process for patent attorneys as there will be a single register, set of requirements, code of conduct, and disciplinary process. For applicants, however, this will not bring any changes except for the fact that as of February 24, 2017, applicants seeking protection for any of the IP types and filing their applications with IP Australia will have the opportunity to indicate the address for service in either Australia or New Zealand. Meanwhile, in New Zealand the option will not become available on the date of the regime implementation but is planned to be introduced in the nearest future. We remind you that filing a single application that would cover both Australia and New Zealand will not become possible as the initiatives on single application process (SAP) and single examination process (SEP) have been rejected by the New Zealand government.

For registration as a trans-Tasman patent attorney knowledge of both Australian and New Zealand IP legislation and experience in handling patent cases in both Australia and New Zealand will be required. Patent attorneys already registered in either Australia or New Zealand will automatically become trans-Tasman attorneys.

To learn about registration procedures in Australia and New Zealand, please see our brief applicant’s guide.

If you are interested in getting a quote for IP rights registration in any country of your interest, please visit our quotation system.

Author: Lynda Miller
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