CANBERRA - The Trademarks Amendment Bill 2006 was passed in the Australian Parliament on October 16, 2006, making a number of incremental improvements to the Trademarks Act 1995, a press release by IP Australia stated.
According to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources, Bob Baldwin, “the improvements will further strengthen the trademark system by aligning it with other Intellectual Property (IP) legislation and reducing the administrative burden on trademark applicants.”
The improvements to the Trademarks Act have come about through a review conducted by IP Australia, the Australian government agency responsible for administering the patents, trademarks, designs and plant breeder’s rights systems.
As per the review, changes were made to enhance the trademark system in a number of ways. Key amendments include:
- The ability to conduct simple trademark transactions over the phone;
- Two new 'opposition to registration' provisions; and
- Increased certainty that ownership of and interests in a trademark have been recorded accurately on the Register of Trademarks.