WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  IP/C/W/539/Add.2 
21 October 2009 
 
 (09-5196) 
Council for Trade-Related Aspects 
of Intellectual Property Rights Original:   English 
 
 
 
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES: 
INFORMATION FROM MEMBERS 
 
AUSTRALIA 
 
Addendum  
  
 The following communication, dated 12 October 2009, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of Australia.  
 
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1. Pursuant to Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreemen t, the Council for TRIPS has requested reports 
from developed country Members of their technical and financial cooperation programmes in the area 
of intellectual property rights (IPRs) relevant to the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement.  The 
following document is a new triennial report of Aust ralian technical cooperation activities, pursuant to 
the February 2003 decision of the Council for TRIPS. 
2. Australia fulfils its Article 67 technical coopera tion commitments at the bilateral, regional and 
multilateral level.  Its cooperation activities are fo cused on developing countries, particularly in the 
Asia-Pacific region.  At the regional level, Aust ralia works closely with the Asia-Pacific Economic 
Cooperation (APEC) Secretariat and APEC's Inte llectual Property Rights Expert Group (APEC 
IPEG). 
3. The following report provides information about bilateral and regional/multilateral 
cooperation undertaken by the Australian Government .  Government agencies chiefly involved are IP 
Australia, the Australian Agency for Internationa l Development (AusAID), the Attorney-General's 
Department, the Department of Foreign Affair s and Trade and the Australian Federal Police. 
4. Key websites which contain extensive informa tion on Australia's intellectual property (IP) 
regime and which may be considered a techni cal cooperation resource include:  APEC IPEG 
(http://www.apecipeg.org
) and the public education and awareness resource (http://www.apecipeg-
pear.org ), the IP Australia website covering patents, designs, trade marks and plant breeders’ rights 
(http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au ), the Attorney-General’s Department website on copyright 
developments (http://www.ag.gov.au/copyright ) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 
website which covers international IP developments (www.dfat.gov.au/ip ). IP/C/W/539/Add.2 
Page 2  
 
  I. BILATERAL ACTIVITIES 
Australia-Indonesia Ministerial Forum, Working Group on Legal Cooperation 
 
5. As part of the fourth meeting of the Australia-Indonesia Working Group on Legal 
Cooperation held in Canberra on 10- 11 November 2008, the Attorney-General’s Department hosted a 
meeting of the Sub-Group on Intellectual Property.  The meeting was attended by Australian officers 
from Customs, IP Australia, the Australian Federa l Police, the Attorney-General’s Department, and 
the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to gether with the Indonesian  Director-General for 
Intellectual Property Rights.  The sub-group meeting noted the commitment by the Indonesian and Australian Governments to continue to work togeth er to develop cooperative mechanisms to enhance 
intellectual property laws and enforcement. 
Seminar on the Australian IP System 
 
6. IP Australia conducted a seminar in Beijing in October 2008 to inform business, IP 
professionals and government about the Australian IP  system and how it works.  Over three hundred 
people attended the seminar. 
Workshop on Plant Breeders’ Rights testing, VietNam 
 
7. In December 2008, IP Australia conducted a fi ve-day workshop for 20 people on distinct, 
uniform and stable (DUS) breeder testing for plant breeders’ rights. 
Public Education and Awareness Training, Viet Nam 
 8. In February 2009, IP Australia conducted a work shop in Hanoi on developing strategies for IP 
Public Education and Awareness.  Thirty-five Nati onal Office of Intellectual Property of Viet Nam 
staff and related stakeholders a ttended the two day workshop.   
Training for Trade Mark Hearing Officers, Malaysia 
 9. IP Australia hosted a one and a half week visit by three officials from Malaysia in April 2009 
to undertake training on Australia’s trade mark hearing process. 
Cost Recovery Workshop 
 
10. IP Australia conducted a workshop on moving to a cost recovery system for officials from 
Viet Nam and Thailand in May 2009. 
II. REGIONAL/MULTILATERAL ACTIVITIES 
11. In addition to activities under the World Trade Organization, the World Intellectual Property 
Organization and other multilateral fora, Australia has a strong focus on Asia-Pacific technical and 
financial cooperation in the area of IPR. 
WTO Global Trust Fund 
 
12. Since 2002, Australia has contributed over $A 5.5 million to the WTO’s Global Trust Fund.  
In June this year, the Government announced that  Australia would increase its annual contribution to 
the fund to $A 1.75 million, compared to $A 500,000 and $A 1 million in 2006-2007, and 2007-2008 
respectively.  Our increased contribution demonstr ates our commitment to a successful conclusion to  IP/C/W/539/Add.2 
 Page 3 
 
 
  the Doha round.  The Trust Fund provides trade-re lated technical assistance to developing country 
members of the WTO to participate in the D oha Round of multilateral trade negotiations.  
WIPO-IP Australia Joint Working Group on In tellectual Property Technical Assistance 
 
13. In 2000, WIPO and the Australian Government agreed to a Joint St atement on Cooperation 
for IP Technical Assistance in the Asia and Pacific Region.  Within this statement it was agreed that 
WIPO and Australia would work together to "…de velop and implement joint projects in cases where 
Australia’s and WIPO’s expertise and resources woul d combine effectively to meet identified needs 
for training and assistance." 
14. Between 2000 and 2005 WIPO and IP Australia cooperated to de velop and implement various 
technical assistance activities in the Asia-Pacific region.   In recent years, IP Australia and WIPO have 
undertaken to reinvigorate work under the Joint Statement and agreed to an annual time-bound work 
plan. 
15. The objectives of the plan are to: 
• Demonstrate Australia’s support for WIPO  and multilateral efforts to enhance 
capacity building and the development of a r obust IP rights system in the Asia-Pacific 
region, recognising the principles of the Development Agenda; and 
 
• In partnership with WIPO, deliver a targ eted Programme of capacity-building and 
technical assistance in the Asia-Pacific region that aligns with IP Australia’s International Engagement Strategy. 
 
16. The key activity in the 2009 Work Plan is an advanced training workshop in examination of 
traditional and non-traditional trademar ks (to be held 19-23 October in  Canberra).  IP Australia has 
also agreed to sponsor a unit in the Queensl and University of Technology-WIPO Master of 
Intellectual Property Law programme, which is direct ed at the Asia-Pacific region and the provision 
of an expert mission to help develop a Na tional IP strategy for Papua New Guinea. 
APEC – Intellectual Property Experts Group (IPEG)  
 17. Australia continues to play an active role in  the APEC IPEG and considers it an important 
forum to foster cooperation, share information a nd experiences and advance consideration of issues 
such as enforcement and cooperation.  Officers from th e Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the 
Attorney-General’s Department and IP Australia  attended APEC IPEG me etings in August 2008 in 
Lima, Peru and in February and June 2009 in Sing apore.  At these meetings, Australia tabled the 
following papers: 
• Accountability and Copyright Collecting Societies; 
 
• The Role of the Code of Conduct; 
 
• Recent Australian Copyright Cases and Developments; 
 
• Update on APEC IPG website and status of IPEG Pub lic Education and Awareness 
resource; 
 
• 
Strategic Consideration of IPR Capacity  Building Requirements in APEC Economies 
Survey; IP/C/W/539/Add.2 
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  • Collection Storage and Publication of  Information Relevant to IPEG; 
 
• Update on APEC IPR Public Educati on and Awareness Programme for SMEs; 
 
• AusPat – A New Search System for Australian Patents; 
 
• Intellectual Property Within Australia’s Vocational Education and Training (VET) 
Sector; and 
 
• Survey of Consideration of IPR Capacity Building Requirements in APEC 
Economies. 
 18. Australian officials also attended and played an ac tive role as moderators and presenters at the 
"Trading Ideas 2009" Symposium held in Singapore from 30-31 July 2009.  An officer from the 
Attorney-General’s Department m oderated a session on "Copyright 2.0". 
APEC IPR Public Education and Awareness Workshop 
 
19. The APEC IPR Public Education and Awareness Programme (2006-2009) is jointly delivered 
by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department and 
IP Australia.  The programme aims to equip APEC  member economies with the skills and resources 
to implement public education and awareness which pr omote the effective use of IPR in the region.  
In April 2009, IP Australia, in conjunction with  Hong Kong, China and Singapore IP counterpart 
bodies, conducted a workshop titled: "APEC IPR P ublic Education and Awareness Campaigns for 
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)". 
Assistance to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries 
 20. IP Australia provided a range of assistance  to various ASEAN countries including the 
provision of library resources, scientific journals , the design and printing of educational material, 
plant breeders’ rights plant testing equipment, advice on public education and awareness activities, 
copies of legislation and the hosting of fact-finding missions. 
IP Enforcement Workshop 
 21. On 19-20 November 2008, the Australian Fe deral Police (AFP) hosted an IP Crime 
Workshop in Hong Kong, China.  The event follo wed an initial workshop held by the AFP in 
Thailand in June 2008.   
22. The workshop brought together nearly 40 police and customs officials from Cambodia, 
China, Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, 
Thailand and Viet Nam.  The workshop proved to be  a successful forum for the AFP to further build 
and enhance working relationships a nd partnerships.  It also provide d an opportunity for delegates to 
network and share knowledge and best practice in  indentifying and investigating IP crime. 
EPOQUE seminar 
 23. IP Australia and the European Patent Offi ce (EPO) jointly hosted an EPOQUE.Net seminar 
for delegates of seven IP Offices from througho ut the Asia-Pacific region (Korea, Thailand, 
Philippines, Malaysia, VietNam, New Zealand and Chinese Taipei).  The Seminar was held at IP Australia offices on 18 and 19 August.  EPOQUE.Net is a patent search and examination tool  IP/C/W/539/Add.2 
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  developed by the EPO.  The seminar included IP Australia’s experiences and analysis of trialling 
EPOQUE.Net, and briefs on the technical requirements. 
III. SEMINARS 
24. Australian officials presented papers at th e following regional and international fora: 
• WIPO "Information Meeting on IP Financ ing", held in Geneva, Switzerland, on 
10 March 2009; 
 
• APEC-ASEAN-USPTO "Colloquium for Public Prosecutors and the Judiciary on 
IP Enforcement", held in Kuala Lu mpur, Malaysia, on 9-11 June, 2009; 
 
• WIPO forum, "Service Oriented IP Administration", in Geneva in July 2008;  
 
• An APEC IPEG Seminar, "Raising Aware ness and Providing Policy Insights on 
Promoting Appropriate Access and Protec tion of Genetic Resources and Traditional 
Knowledge", in Lima in August 2009; 
 
• A presentation on Australia’s innovation pa tent in Santiago in August 2008; 
 
• WIPO/Indonesian National Seminar on the Prot ection of Geographical Indications in 
Bali in December 2008; 
 
• An APEC IPEG seminar, "From Mind to  Market:  The Highs and Lows of 
Technology Transfer", in Singapore in February 2009; 
 
• WIPO inter-regional forum for heads of  office in Beijing in March 2009. 
 
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