Trans-Tasman Patents and Trans-Pacific Partnership for Copyright
Thursday 28 November 2013 @ 1.47 p.m. | IP & Media
In the last month, there has been considerable buzz in the intellectual property and media sphere over the approval of the Trans-Tasman Patents agreement with New Zealand and the negotiations currently underway with the United States among others over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, specifically focusing on copyright concerns.
Trans-Tasman Patents Agreement
IP Australia have been working with IPONZ on a three-year implementation plan to improve the way patent applications are processed and examined.
The plan covers three stages as follows:
- Stage 1: Work Sharing Model;
- Stage 2: Single Application Process;
- Stage 3: Single Examination Process.
Two separate and independent patents will ultimately be granted and IPONZ and IP Australia will each retain their existing responsibilities for granting or refusing the patents, but the processes will be shared.
While the first stage of the streamlined patent process looks set to be implemented by early 2015, there are still some issues of the process that are causing concern among IP practitioners on both sides of the Tasman. Of most concern is the the question of how quickly AU and NZ patent examiners can be brought up to speed on the intricacies of each other’s patent laws.
Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) will build on the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (P4) between Brunei Darussalam, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore, which entered into force in 2006. The TPP includes the P4 Parties as well as Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the USA and Vietnam.
The Australian Government will pursue a TPP outcome that eliminates or at least substantially reduces barriers to trade and investment. The TPP is more than a traditional trade agreement; it will also deal with behind-the-border impediments to trade and investment. It is intended that the TPP be a living agreement that remains relevant to emerging issues and allows for membership expansion.
However, concerns have been raised in a CHOICE article particularly about importation of goods and the impact on copyright concerns:
“The United States appears to be proposing a raft of measures that would be disastrous for Australian consumers if they made the final text. This includes a ban on parallel importation, which involves purchasing products from overseas retailers and shipping them to Australia...While we are pleased to see that Australian negotiators are opposing this, we continue to have concerns that the TPP could entrench other copyright provisions which contradict recommendations made by the IT Pricing Inquiry.”
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