IP Australia and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) are undertaking a joint review of the trans-Tasman patent attorney registration regime to determine whether any changes or improvements should be made. 

To initiate the review, IP Australia and MBIE have recently released a joint consultation paper that looks at each of the objectives of the arrangement and examines whether there are issues preventing the achievement of those objectives. The objectives of the arrangement include:

• allowing for economies of scale in institutional arrangements;
• minimising regulatory and business compliance costs;
• increasing business confidence in the quality and standard of service provided by patent attorneys; and
• facilitating competition in the market for patent attorney services.

The consultation paper also includes a section reviewing the Australian trade marks attorney registration regime.

Submissions on the consultation paper must be received before 5:00pm on 2 February 2022. For more information on this review please visit the MBIE website.

For any questions about this review please contact ip.policy@mbie.govt.nz.