The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has recently released a Discussion Paper with regards to a proposed Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill.

The Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill (“the Bill”) is an omnibus bill intended to make technical amendments to the Patents Act 2013, the Trade Marks Act 2002, the Designs Act 1953, and their associated regulations. The Bill is not intended to be a full policy review of these Acts, or to review the criteria for granting patents, or registering trade marks and designs.

The Discussion Paper looks at a number of issues in relation to the above Acts and/or their associated regulations. Each of these issues also includes the results of MBIE’s analysis. A brief overview and summary of the Discussion Paper is also available [PDF, 289 KB].

The consultation period on this Discussion Paper is now open and will last until 5:00pm on Friday, 2 August 2019.

For more details on this Discussion Paper and information about how to make a submission, please visit the MBIE website.