IP/C/W/632/Add.1  
 
28 September 2017  
(17-5182) Page: 1/6 
Council for Trade -Related Aspects of Intellectual 
Property  Rights  Original: English  
 
 
TECHNICAL COOPERATIO N ACTIVITIES:  
INFORMATION FROM MEM BERS  
AUSTRALIA  
Addendum   
The following communication, dated 20 September 2017, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of Australia.  
 
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1.  Australia is committed to sharing information with other WTO M embers on its  technical and 
financial cooperation activities in the area of intellectual property rights in fulfilment of Art icle 67 of 
the TRIPS Agreement.  This is a full report on Australia 's intellectual property -related tech nical 
cooperation  activities with developing and least developed countries. It builds upon annual update 
reports provided in 2012 (IP/C/W/582/Add.2), 2013 (IP/C/W/593/Add.7), 2014 (IP/C/W/601) and 
2015 (IP/C/W/610/Add.4) and 2016 (IP/C/W/617/Add.1).  
2.  Austra lia fulfils its Article 67 technical cooperation commitment through multilateral, regional 
and bila teral programme s and activities. Many activities are focused on developing and least 
developed countries in the Indo -Pacific region. Australia works closely with the World Intellectual 
Property Organization (WIPO), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat and 
other partners to assist developing and least developed countries to build their intellectual 
property capacity and systems.  
3.  Many o f the technical co -operation activities implemented under Article 67 of the TRIPS 
Agreement  align with Australia 's strategic focus on using aid as a c atalyst to promote economic 
growth and poverty reduction, including through a strong emphasis on aid for trade. This is 
embedded in the UN Sustainable Development Goals and our future investments, including 
activities under the WIPO -Australia Funds in Trust programme  will in turn be influenced by 
these  goals.  
4.  Websites containing information on Australi a's intellectual property regime, which may be 
considered a technical cooperation resource, include the IP Australia website covering patents, 
designs, trademarks  and plant breeders ' rights ( www.ipaustralia.gov .au); the Department of 
Communications and the Arts website on copyright developments 
(www.communications.gov.au/what -we-do/copyright ); and the Department of Foreign Affairs and 
Trade we bsite on international IP developments ( www.dfat.gov.au/ip ). 
  IP/C/W/632/Add.1  
 
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  1  AUSTRALIAN ACTIVITIE S WITH THE WORLD INT ELLECTUAL PROPERTY 
ORGANIZATION (WIPO)  
1.1  Australia -WIPO Funds in Trust  
5.  In February 2016, the Australian Government and WIPO agreed to a second iteration of 
the Australia -WIPO Funds in Trust with the commitment of an additional AUD 3 million of funding. 
The Australian Government has previously provided AUD 2 million to WIPO over a period from 
2012 to 30  June 2016. This funding promotes economic growth in developing and least developed 
countries by helping these countries build their intellectual property regimes and capabilities in 
facilitating innovation, creativity, investment and technology transfer. There are four themes under 
Australia 's Funds in Trust including: development of the intellectual property system; technology 
transfer (knowledge transfer and commercialisation); addressing neglected tropical diseases; and 
copyright and related rights to assist the blind, visually impaired and other persons with print 
disabilities. Programme s implemented under this funding arrangement are developed in 
consultation with WIP O and the recipient countries. Beneficiaries are involved in project planning 
to ensure the  programme s are well suited to their needs.  
6.  The review period of this report (October 2016 – September 2017) has been dedicated to 
implementing a workplan of activities under the second iteration of funding. During this period, 
placements have been secured for scientists from developing countries in the Asia Pacific region in 
Australia 's leading research institutions to tackle neglected tropical diseases, a number of national 
IP workshops have been implemented, ongoing work regarding translation of a technol ogy transfer 
toolbox has continued, and a regional study regarding women and IP commercialisation has 
commenced. The workplan for the second iteration is designed to engage beneficiaries and tailor 
the activities to their specific needs, including completi ng an initial scoping study identifying 
the needs for patent tr aining in developing countries.  
2  OTHER MULTILATERAL A ND REGIONAL ACTIVITI ES 
2.1  Economic Cooperation Support Program under the ASEAN -Australia -New Zealand 
Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA)  
7.  The AANZFTA 's Economic Cooperation Support Program (AECSP) consists of the Economic 
Cooperation Work Program and the AANZFTA Support Unit located in the ASEAN Secretariat. 
The AECSP was established in 2010 as a five -year programme  with funding of AUD 20 -25 million. 
The Programme , which has now been extended to 30 June 2018, aims to support the ASEAN 
Secretariat in servicing the AANZFTA Joint Committee and its subsidiary bodies to assist ASEAN 
Member States, particularly least developed countries, with AANZFTA 's implem entation. 
Intellectual property is a vital component of the AECSP, with the objective being to 'provide 
comprehensive support for the development of sound and balanced intellectual property systems 
in the AANZFTA region '. The following paragraphs outline s ome of the intellectual property 
outcomes achieved under the AECSP with further detail provided in the annex to this report.  
8.  IP Australia 's Regional Patent Examination Training (RPET) Programme  delivers intensive 
competency -based patent examination training to examiners of ASEAN Intellectual Property 
Offices that conduct substantive patent examination, to enable them to meet international Patent 
Cooperation Treaty standards. This programme  has trained number of patent examiners that can 
assist with improving patent examination outcomes within the region. A case study conducted in 
one intellectual property office in the Indo -Pacific region demonstrated that the RPET Programme  
helped to improve the  quality of patent examination reports produced by graduates and RPET 
graduates expressed greater confidence in conducting patent examinations consistent with 
international best practices and standards.  
9.  To date, the 18 participants from the ASEAN region ha ve graduated from the two -year 
programme  from the first (2013), second (2014) and third (2015) intakes. There are currently an 
additional 12  participants progressing through the fourth (2016) intake from Indonesia, Malaysia, 
Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam.  
10.  In 2017, IP Australia designed a second phase of RPET to deliver sustainable results in 
embedding the RPET learnings and best practice into internal patent examination training. IP/C/W/632/Add.1  
 
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  Experienced IP Australia Mentors have been assigned to each participating  office, with the support 
of the AECSP, to provide tailored guidance to  RPET graduates and local supervisors to deliver 
training to new examiners within their offices.   
  IP/C/W/632/Add.1  
 
- 4 - ANNEX1 
TECHNICAL COOPERATIO N ACTIVITIES IN CONN ECTION WITH TRIPS IM PLEMENTATION  
FROM OCTOBER 2016 TO  SEPTEMBER 2017  
Activities undertaken under the Australia -World Intellectual Property Organization Funds in Trust Arrangement  
Activity  Date Beneficiary or beneficiaries  Brief Description  
Sub-regional Meeting on 
Copyright and Development 
for Decision Makers  
 January 23 to 25  
2017 Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, 
Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Papua 
New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon 
Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu 
and the Pacific Islands Forum 
Secretariat  The Meeting provided a platform for policy dialogue among 
decision makers and facilitate an exchange of experiences with 
regard to copyright as a useful tool for promoting cr eativity and 
contributing to cultural and economic development. It also 
provided an opportunity for the Cook Island government officials 
to share their experience in the promotion and protection of 
national cultural expressions.  
National Workshop on 
Copyr ight and Related 
Rights for Creators and 
Consultation Meetings  January 26 to 27  
2017 Cook Islands  The Workshop enhanced capacities of government officials in 
the formulation of policies and strategies in copyright and 
related rights, including participati on in the international system 
for the protection of copyright and related rights particularly the 
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic 
Works.  
National Workshop on 
Copyright and Related 
Rights for Stakeholders, and 
Consultation Meetings  October 24 to 26 
2016 Tonga  The Workshop was designed to provide information on and 
increase awareness of how the government and stakeholders 
cooperate and coordinate in the establishment of a functional 
and sustainable copyright system.  
Nationa l Workshop on New 
Developments in Copyright 
and Related Rights and their 
Roles in Sustainable 
Development, and 
Consultation Meetings  May 9 to11  2017 Samoa  The Workshop was designed to provide information on new 
developments at national and international le vels, particularly 
the newly adopted international treaties in the field copyright 
and related rights.  
                                                
1 In English only.   
  IP/C/W/632/Add.1  
 
- 5 - Activity  Date Beneficiary or beneficiaries  Brief Description  
Arrangement of placements 
of scientists from 
developing countries 
through WIPO Re:search  
 Throughout 2017  Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, 
Tanzania, Indonesia and Kenya.  Place eight scientists from developing and least developed 
countries with public and private sector institutions/companies 
with a view to ensuring the technical cooperation in the area of 
research into neglected tropical diseases.  
Translation of a technology 
transfer tool box into 
Vietnamese and Indonesian  Throughout 2017  Vietnam, Indonesia  The technology transfer toolbox that has been developed under 
the WIPO -Australia Funds -in-Trust is being translated into 
Vietnamese and Indonesian to enhance diffusion of knowledge 
nationwide.  
National Workshop on 
Intellectual Property 
Marketing and Valuation  10-13 July 2017  Jakarta, Indonesia  The workshop was designed to assist national technology 
managers from universities and research and develop ment 
institutions to understand the full cycle of IP  commercialisation . 
 
It also developed basic technical skills of participants to value IP 
and technologies in the academic knowledge transfer context; 
and facilitated understanding of IP marketing procedu re and in 
that context the use of existing IP related tools – such as patent 
landscapes.  
Launch of the project on 
Bridging the Gap between 
Academic Institutions and 
Industry in the Philippines  22-23 February 
2017 Manila, Philippines  The 'Bridging the Gap between Academic Institutions and 
Industry in the Philippines ' programme  is designed to increase 
technical capacity of managers and IP professionals in  academic 
institutions within the Philippines.   
  IP/C/W/632/Add.1  
 
- 6 - Activities undertaken on behalf of or in consultation wi th WIPO outside the Funds in Trust Arrangement  
Activity  Date Beneficiary or beneficiaries  Brief Description  
Regional Patent 
Examination 
Training (RPET) 
Programme  Ongoing  Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, 
Indonesia, Viet Nam, Kenya and the African  
Regional Intellectual  Property Organization 
(Zimbabwe)  During the period, trainees from the third intake of RPET 
graduated from the two -year programme  and the fourth 
intake continued in the programme . RPET is an intensive 
distance learning patent  examinati on training programme . 
Fifteen trainees participate in each intake of the programme . 
Regional Patent 
Examination  
Training (RPET) 
Trainee  
Workshop 
(4th intake)  31 October -
11 November  2016 Australia hosts and  manages 
the RPET Programme.  
Kenya and the African  Regional Intellectual  
Property Organization (Zimbabwe)  
participation funded by  WIPO.  The RPET programme  aims to enhance patent examination 
standards in participating offices. WIPO financially supports 
participation of the African Regional Intellect ual Property 
Organization and the Kenyan Industrial Property Institute in 
the RPET programme . These workshops were also attended 
by ASEAN participants funded under the ASEAN Economic 
Support Cooperation  Programme.  
 
Activities undertaken under the ASEAN -Australia -New Zealand Free Trade Agreement Economic Cooperation Support Program (AECSP)  
Activity  Date  Beneficiary or beneficiaries  Brief Description  
Regional Patent 
Examination Training 
(RPET) Programme  Ongoing  Malaysia, Thailand, the 
Philippines, Indonesia, Viet Nam,  During the period, trainees from the third intake of RPET 
graduated from the two year programme  and the fourth 
intake continued through the programme . RPET is an 
intensive distance learning patent  examination training 
programme . A total of 13  trainees from ASEAN offices usually 
participate in  each intake of the programme . 
Regional Patent 
Examination  
Training  (RPET)  
Trainee   Workshop (forth 
intake)  31 October to 
11 November  2016 Funding from the AECSP 
supported  participation of trainees 
from Indonesia, Malaysia, 
the Philippines, Thailand and  
Viet Nam  The RPET programme  aims to enhance patent examination 
standards in participating offices. The workshops are hosted 
in Australia and are designed to r einforce the online learning 
process and consolidate online community building.  
 
 
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