From March 10, 2022, Australian designs now officially have a 12-month ‘Grace Period’ that enables initial protection prior to the lodgement of design registration.
A 12-month Grace Period has now been legislated, joining many trading partners with this important intellectual property amendment.
GRACE PERIOD
What does this mean? From the first time work is published, exhibited or shown in the public domain; there is a 12-month buffer zone between pre-release and the launch of the resolved products and collections.
The grace period allows for public disclosure of a design (under certain conditions) without affecting the enforceability of a subsequent design application in Australia. The grace period will only apply for the 12 month period prior to the priority date of a subsequent design application. IP Australia, March 9, 2022
ADA JOURNEY SINCE OUR 2016 REBOOT
ADA GOVERNMENT CONSULTATION
When the ADA relaunched with a new team, we began this process in 2016 and have been in consultation with various government departments, including IP Australia, regularly.
Further reviews of the design registration system are pending as you can see from the timeline above, affecting legislation change is a long process. Full outcomes will extend over the next two-three years.
THANK YOU TO OUR MEMBERS
A heartfelt thank you to ADA stakeholders who have participated in our Productivity Commission hearings (2016-18), the Designs Review (2018-2021), and collaborated and supported our most recent roundtable series regarding additional policy amendments.
We also thank our lawyers Banki Haddock Fiora for their ongoing support and, importantly, ADA Members who enable our work as we collectively strive for a more robust system to support and protect original furniture and furnishing designs.
