IP Australia
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 25 February 1998 |
| Jurisdiction | Commonwealth of Australia |
| Employees | 1,169 (at April 2013) |
| Website | ipaustralia.gov.au |
The Australian Patent Office (APO) is a division of IP Australia which is an agency of the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. APO issues patents for inventions. APO was established in 1904 by the Commonwealth of Australia and since 1998 has been located in one building, Discovery House, in Canberra, Australia. In 2007 Discovery House was expanded to include a third wing allowing co-location of all personnel. The new west wing of Discovery House was officially opened on 31 October 2007 by the Governor-General, Major General Michael Jeffery AC CVO MC (Retd). In 2008-9 IP Australia opened a Patent Examination Centre in Melbourne to accommodate 40 patent examiners.
APO has been an International Searching Authority (ISA) and International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA) for patent applications filed in accordance with the Patent Co-operation Treaty since 31 March 1980. "APO issues reports on approximately 3,000 international searches each year. This workload has doubled since 1997 and it is increasing." [June 2007]
The legal basis for the Australian patent system is Section 51 of the Constitution of Australia, wherein the powers of the Australian Government are defined. It states, in part;
The current legislation is the Patents Act 1990 and Patents Regulations 1991.
At 30 June 2008, IP Australia employed 996 employees, nearly all of whom are based in Canberra, Australia. Of these, approximately 200 [May 2006] are patent examiners and 110 [May 2006] are trade mark examiners, the remainder are managers and support staff. "About two-thirds, approximately 160, of the examination staff work on Patent Cooperation Treaty related applications." [June 2007]
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