Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

• Closer harmonisation of Australian and US intellectual property laws creates a more familiar and certain legal environment for Australian exporters, and assists Australian innovators to attract US investment.
• Australian copyright industries (including publishing, filmmaking and music) receive extended copyright protection, and an expeditious process to deal with allegedly infringing copyright material on the Internet, as well as agreed criminal standards for copyright infringement.

Summary

Closer alignment in intellectual property laws and practices provides Australian exporters with a more familiar and certain legal environment for the export of value-added goods to the US.  The ability of Australian innovators to attract investment from the US is enhanced through greater familiarity and confidence of those investors with our legal system.

Key aspects of the Intellectual Property Chapter include:

• Stronger protection for copyright owners, including:
• An increased term of protection for copyright material.
• Agreement on standards of copyright protection.
• Implementation of the WIPO Internet Treaties.
• An expeditious process for copyright owners to engage with Internet Service Providers and subscribers to deal with allegedly infringing copyright material on the Internet.  
• Tighter controls on circumventing technological protection of copyright material, subject to public interest exceptions as considered necessary (the Copyright Amendment Act 2006 (Schedule 12) implemented a new technological protection measures scheme from 1 January 2007).
• Enhanced intellectual property enforcement, including:
• increased criminal and civil protection against the unlawful decoding of encrypted program carrying satellite TV signals; and
• agreed criminal standards for copyright infringement and on remedies and penalties.
• Reinforcement of Australia's existing framework for industrial property protection.

In addition the Agreement includes:

• Agreement to work to reduce differences in law and practices, in the area of patents, trademarks and designs, and to promote bilateral and regional cooperation with respect to enforcement of border measures
• Introduction of transparent procedures into the marketing approval process for pharmaceuticals products coming off patents.