New Australian IP Bill
Thanks to the IPKat and IP Australia for details of a new piece of IP legislation presented to the Australian House of Representatives (lower house) - the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill 2006. See also summary and links from Warwick Rothnie at http://homepage.mac.com/wrothnie/iblog/C1495955323/E20060330122201/index.html
Important features for our purposes are provisions to facilitate enforcement of IP, building on the ACIP Review of Enforcement of IP (and the US/Australia FTA) including the possibliity of exemplary damages for patent infringement. There are also provisions to try once again address the balance between patents and competition in the light of the Review of IP Legislation under the Competition Principles Agreement. These include the specific possiblity for grant of compulsory licence if there is a breach of part IV of the Trade Practices Act 1974 - including misuse of market power.
Also interesting is the introduction of provisions, similar to those in Canada, permitting "springboarding" - work relating solely to regulatory clearance of generic drugs during the patent terms, allowing rapid emergence of competition, and possibly cheaper drugs, upon expiry of the patent.
It will be interesting to see how these fare. If passed, it will also be noteworthy what use is made of the new competition law provisions. As Warwick Rothnie notes, perhaps the compulsory licence could have been ordered anyway under the TPA - but would new provisions make courts and parties bolder?
Important features for our purposes are provisions to facilitate enforcement of IP, building on the ACIP Review of Enforcement of IP (and the US/Australia FTA) including the possibliity of exemplary damages for patent infringement. There are also provisions to try once again address the balance between patents and competition in the light of the Review of IP Legislation under the Competition Principles Agreement. These include the specific possiblity for grant of compulsory licence if there is a breach of part IV of the Trade Practices Act 1974 - including misuse of market power.
Also interesting is the introduction of provisions, similar to those in Canada, permitting "springboarding" - work relating solely to regulatory clearance of generic drugs during the patent terms, allowing rapid emergence of competition, and possibly cheaper drugs, upon expiry of the patent.
It will be interesting to see how these fare. If passed, it will also be noteworthy what use is made of the new competition law provisions. As Warwick Rothnie notes, perhaps the compulsory licence could have been ordered anyway under the TPA - but would new provisions make courts and parties bolder?
posted by Dr Abbe Brown at 7:33 am
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