In Brief

Changes to Aus­trali­a’s intel­lec­tu­al prop­er­ty régime will come into full effect on 15 April 2013. These changes affect many of the process­es and pro­ce­dures for patent, design and trade mark protection.


For trade mark own­ers, this will mean that the peri­od with­in which a third par­ty can oppose an accept­ed appli­ca­tion from being reg­is­tered will be reduced from 3 months to 2 months. The change also applies to oppo­si­tion to removal of a trade mark for non-use. This change will apply to any trade marks that are adver­tised as accept­ed on or after 15 April 2013, or any appli­ca­tions for removal of a trade mark adver­tised on or after 15 April 2013

This short­er time­frame means that trade mark own­ers need to review any mar­ket mon­i­tor­ing that they cur­rent­ly under­take, to ensure that their process­es allow for suf­fi­cient time to meet this sig­nif­i­cant­ly short­er dead­line. This change makes it even more impor­tant to act quick­ly (and to obtain appro­pri­ate spe­cial­ist advice) if there is any con­cern with a com­pet­ing appli­ca­tion that has been accept­ed, or if an appli­ca­tion for removal of a reg­is­tered trade mark is made.

If you would like fur­ther infor­ma­tion about this, or any of the oth­er changes, or would like to dis­cuss imple­ment­ing a trade mark mon­i­tor­ing pro­gram, please con­tact Swaab Attorneys.

Co-authored by M Hall.

If you would like to repub­lish this arti­cle, it is gen­er­al­ly approved, but pri­or to doing so please con­tact the Mar­ket­ing team at marketing@​swaab.​com.​au. This arti­cle is not legal advice and the views and com­ments are of a gen­er­al nature only. This arti­cle is not to be relied upon in sub­sti­tu­tion for detailed legal advice.

Publications

Assess­ing Scope 3 Emis­sions: An analy­sis of the impli­ca­tions of Den­man Aberdeen Muswell­brook Scone Healthy Envi­ron­ment Group Inc v MACH Ener­gy Aus­tralia Pty Ltd [2025] NSW­CA 163 (the Mount Pleas­ant decision)

Intro­duc­tionOn July 24, 2025, the New South Wales Court of Appeal (NSW­CA) deliv­ered a land­mark rul­ing in Den­man Aberdeen Muswell­brook Scone…

Work­place Rela­tion­ships: The Legal Posi­tion (Cold­play Con­cert Edition)

The recent sto­ry of col­leagues (a Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer and Chief Peo­ple Offi­cer (CPO)) whose appar­ent rela­tion­ship was cap­tured on…

Dis­missal for Dissent?

The recent unfair dis­missal deci­sion of the Fair Work Com­mis­sion, Shaun Turn­er v Dare­bin City Coun­cil [2025] FWC 1763, in which Deputy…

In the News

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, Employ­ee award­ed $305k in record sex­u­al harass­ment pay­out”, pub­lished in HRM Online on 12 August 2025

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Employ­ee award­ed $305k in record sex­u­al harass­ment pay­out”, pub­lished in HRM Online on…

Michael Byrnes appeared on Mon­ey News with Evan Lucas on 2GB on 4 August 2025 to dis­cuss the pro­posed Vic­to­ri­an state gov­ern­ment work from home laws

Michael Byrnes appeared on Mon­ey News with Evan Lucas on 2GB on 4 August 2025 to dis­cuss the pro­posed Vic­to­ri­an state gov­ern­ment…

Julie Briscoe attend­ed an event last night host­ed by NSW Gov­er­nor Mar­garet Bea­z­ley, cel­e­brat­ing Tour de Cure’s sup­port for world-class can­cer research breakthroughs.

Her Excel­len­cy the Hon­ourable Mar­garet Bea­z­ley AC KC, Gov­er­nor of New South Wales, and patron of Tour de Cure, host­ed…

Sign up for our Newsletter

*Mandatory information