Change in terminology in section 23 of the Designs Act to better align with other IP rights and jurisdictions

Issue summary

The terminology in section 23 in the Designs Act is not aligned with other IP Rights and some other international jurisdictions.

Section 23 of the Designs Act refers to an ‘initial’ design application (which can be one or more design). After the initial design application is filed, these can be amended under section 28 of the Designs Act, to exclude one or more of those designs (the excluded designs). Other IP rights in Australia refer to this action as a ‘divisional’ which may cause confusion.

History

• Identified for action 8 August 2019
• Reviewed August 2020
• Closed 5 December 2022

Comments

Item closed following further analysis. IP Australia instead plans to undertake non-legislative education and awareness activities to address terminology differences across IP rights.