Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

Labor support the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Productivity Commission Response Part 1 and Other Measures) Bill 2018, which implements relatively minor recommendations in the Productivity Commission's review of Australia's intellectual property system. We note that the government has not chosen to include in the bill the highly contentious changes that it supported in its response to the commission's review, including abolishing innovation patents and lifting parallel import restrictions on the sale of Australian books.

The bill amends a range of legislation, including the Copyright Act, the Trade Marks Act, the Plant Breeder's Rights Act, the Patents Act, the Designs Act and the Olympic Insignia Protection Act. Some of the changes respond to uncertainties created by recent court decisions. For example, the bill clarifies circumstances in which the parallel import of trademarked goods is permissible. These changes arise from a submission to the Productivity Commission by the Law Council of Australia, and will give consumers greater certainty about what they are purchasing.

The bill also reduces the grace period for non-use of trademarks, aligning Australia with the practices of other jurisdictions reducing the number of unregistered trademarks. The bill gives greater protection for plant varieties by broadening those circumstances in which an essentially derived variety can be applied for. This will boost an important export industry by providing breeders with an incentive to develop improved varieties. The bill also makes administrative changes to harmonise procedures within the intellectual property system, such as transferring to the Registrar of Plant Breeders' Rights certain powers now exercised by the Secretary of the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. This will give the registrar the same powers as the heads of comparable registries, such as the registrar of trademarks.

Labor is pleased to support these measures, which will reduce the potential for confusion in the application of intellectual property legislation and make the system operate more effectively. However, we caution the government against proceeding with other changes that would weaken intellectual property protections for innovative Australian firms and our creative industries.