WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  IP/C/W/550/Add.1 
14 October 2010 
 
 (10-5289) 
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of  
Intellectual Property Rights Original:   English 
 
 
 
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES: 
INFORMATION FROM MEMBERS 
 
AUSTRALIA 
 
Addendum  
  
 The following communication, dated 11 October 2010, 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 updates Australia's report of 2009 on Australian technical  cooperation activities, 
pursuant to the February 2003 decision of the Council for TRIPS. 
2. Australia fulfils its Article 67 technical coope ration commitments at bilateral, regional and 
multilateral levels.  Its cooperation activities are focu sed 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 and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 
4. Key websites which contain extensive informa tion on Australia's intellectual property (IP) 
regime and which may be considered a technical cooperation resource include:  APEC IPEG 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 
(http://www.dfat.gov.au/ip ). 
 IP/C/W/550/Add.1 
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  I. BILATERAL ACTIVITIES 
Engagement and information exchange with Vietnamese IP officials 
5. Since 2008, IP Australia and Viet Nam's Nationa l Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) have 
had in place an Action Plan on Cooperation.  The main elements of the Action Plan are:  public 
education & awareness training;  IP  resource development and examiner training;  and plant breeders' 
rights (PBR).   
6. IP Australia hosted a seven day study tour in  August 2009 for 13 NOIP officials.  The focus 
of the study tour was to learn from IP Australia's experiences in administering an IP system and managing an IP office.  IP Australia also assisted  NOIP to develop and print a guide to applying for a 
trade mark using the Madrid System for the Inte rnational Registration of Marks.  The guide was 
printed in Vietnamese in July 2009. 
7. In addition, IP Australia delivered several PBR-focused activities during the year.  This 
included training workshops in November 2009 and May 2010 on PBR protection and breeder testing 
for private and public sector participants.  From this  training, participants acquired entry level skills 
for limited implementation of breeder testing in Viet Nam.  Also, IP Australia purchased equipment for Vietnamese PBR examiners to use for testing of  Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) – 
the registrability criteria for PBR protection. 
Engagement and information exchange with Chinese IP officials 
8. IP Australia has an established relationship with  China's IP agencies, in particular the State 
Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (SIPO).  In financial year 2009-2010, 
the key cooperation activity between SIPO and IP Aust ralia was a patent examiner exchange.  In June 
2010, two SIPO examiners undertook a two week place ment at IP Australia.  During the placement 
they worked side by side with Australian exam iners and exchanged information on one another's 
search and examination practices.  A reciprocal vis it by Australian patent examiners will be held in 
late 2010. 
9. IP Australia also hosted several SIPO de legations during the year.  These included: 
• 19 delegates from SIPO and several provincial IP  bureaus in December 2009 to learn about IP 
Australia's operations, including patent protection, electronic lodgement and IPR public 
education and awareness. 
• Six SIPO representatives in April 2010 to e nhance mutual understanding of each office's 
information technology environment, search services and data management. 
• Six SIPO representatives in May 2010 to learn mo re about Australia's IP laws, regulation and 
policies as well as the relationship between IP policies and economic and social development 
policies in Australia. 
10. In addition, IP Australia hosted visits from th e Intellectual Property Office of Inner Mongolia, 
Beijing IP Bureau, Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration and IP officials from Hubei 
province.  These visits provided an opportunity to exchange information on our respective approaches 
to IPR protection, commercialisation and enforcement. 
Two week training placement of Thai patent examiners 
11. Since 2007, IP Australia and Thailand's Department  of Intellectual Property (DIP) have had in 
place an Action Plan on IP Cooperation.  Under this  Action Plan, IP Australia hosted four DIP patent 
examiners for a two week training placement on examination of nano-tec hnology and biotechnology 
applications.  In addition, IP Australia funded th e DIP's subscription to several scientific journals,  IP/C/W/550/Add.1 
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  which will be used to enhance th e technical knowledge of DIP's patent examiners.  The Action Plan 
concluded in December 2009. 
Plant Breeders' Rights (PBR) Study Tour by Indonesian officials 
12. Five senior Indonesian officials from the Minist ries of Agriculture and Finance visited IP 
Australia for a PBR study tour in December 2009.  The purpose of the tour was for the Indonesian 
officials to conduct a detailed investigation of  the Australian plant breeder testing system, 
infrastructure, institutional and human resources re lated to Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability 
(DUS) testing and an overview of accreditation and training for Qualified Persons and examiners. 
Problem based trade and investment law programme 
13. The objective of this programme is to help  Philippines Universities develop sustainable 
problem based courses in trade and investment law to enable a steady stream of graduates to be available to government and industry in support of  economic development initiatives.  The objective 
is based on a development need fo r an increased pool of suitably trained law graduates in the 
Philippines with adequate international trade and investment law skills to enable the Philippines 
government, industry and legal profession to optimis e national welfare from international economic 
engagement. 
Supporting the re-emergence of sustainable mining in the Philippines through building the capacity 
and expertise of university faculty 
14. The aim of this activity is to assist unive rsities in the Philippi nes produce high quality 
graduates skilled in the required breadth and depth of disciplines required by a re-emerging minerals 
industry.  While there are a number of strategies be ing pursued to address these issues, the Asia Public 
Sector Linkages Programme proposal is designed to address one of these recommendations by 
supporting the more immediate need of developing current staff and teaching capacity and reviewing 
curriculum which will significantly assist the ability of  the universities to meet the critical short-term 
professional needs of the industry and provide locally  trained graduates that are competitive with 
professionals trained abroad. 
Restorative Ecological Knowledge: Integratin g Scientific and Local Traditional Ecological 
Knowledge to improve university training and to enhance community based restoration and 
reforestation projects for post-mining and degraded landscapes in the Philippines 
15. The main developmental goal is to reverse th e degradation of landscapes by deforestation, 
mining and farming.  It will enhance community-based efforts to address this issue.  A key project has 
been to assist the Ateneo de Man ila University's Environmental Scie nce Department to offer the very 
first Bachelor of Environmental Science degree in the Philippines to help build capacity to develop 
and deliver a new curriculum in environmental/ biological sciences that incorporates local and 
traditional ecological knowledge. 
Modelling Policy Responses to Climate Change: Im plications for Sustainable Development and 
Growth in the Philippines (Curtin University) 
16. The activity will involve the development of a dynamic CGE (computable general 
equilibrium) model of the Philippine economy that  can be used for assessing policy, particularly 
climate change and energy-related proposals.  Th e objective behind the development of such a model 
is that it will allow policy makers to model, examine, and assess the e ffectiveness and potential 
impacts of policy proposals in terms of national economic outcomes, but also impacts on industries, 
regions and households.  The CGE model will allow policy makers to identify the most effective 
policy options to mitigate or adapt to climate change , with its particular strength being a uniform set 
of criteria for selecting optimal policy settings, analysed  in a consistent and transparent manner that is IP/C/W/550/Add.1 
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  readily open to external assess ment.  Major components will cover all features of model design, 
training and policy use.  These include: model devel opment, initial applied research, training seminars 
in the use of the model and ongoing research linka ges with partner institutions.  Seminars will be 
organized as a way of disseminating results and stimulate discussion in this policy area. 
Australia-China Joint Coordination Group on Clean Coal Technology 
17. The Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism works with the National Energy 
Administration of China through the Australia -China Joint Coordination Group on Clean Coal 
Technology (JCG).  The JCG was established on 15 January 2007 to facilitate and enhance the 
mutually beneficial development, application and transfer of low emissions coal technology between 
Australia and China.  The Australian Governme nt committed $A 20 million to support agreed 
activities, which include regular re search and development seminars ;  collaboration on research 
projects;  and the development of a feasibility st udy for a commercial scal e post combustion capture 
project. 
Bilateral Memorandum of Understanding between Australia and China on Research and 
Development. 
18. The National Measurement Institute, a division of the Department of Innovation, Industry, 
Science and Research, has recently (in A ugust 2010) signed a bilateral Memorandum of  
Understanding (MoU) with its Chinese counterpart (the  National Institute of  Metrology, NIM) to 
undertake joint collaborative R&D activities, some  aspects of which could be described as 
technology transfer in nature.  
II. REGIONAL/MULTILATERAL ACTIVITIES 
19. In addition to activities under the World Trade Organization, the World Intellectual Property 
Organization (WIPO), the World Customs Organizati on (WCO) and other multilateral fora, Australia 
has a strong focus on Asia-Pacific technical and financial cooperation in the field of IPR. 
WTO Global Trust Fund 
20. Since 2002, Australia has contributed over $A 7.5 million to the WTO's Global Trust Fund to 
provide technical assistance to developing country members to participate in the Doha Round of trade 
negotiations.  Australia's contribution to the Fund for 2010-2011 is $A 2 million.  
21. Australia also provided $A 750,000 in 2009 to the WTO Standards and Trade Development 
Facility to help developing countries to analyse and implement international standards on food safety 
and animal and plant health. 
22. Outside of the WTO, Australia has provided $A 3 million to the Advisory Centre on WTO 
Law (ACWL) in 2010.  ACWL is an intergovernme ntal organisation based in Geneva that provides 
training and subsidised legal services on WTO law to developing countries . 
23. These contributions demonstrate Australia's  continuing commitment to the multilateral 
trading system and to the Doha round.  And in  2003, Australia (unilaterally) removed duties and 
quotas on all imports from Least Developed Countries and East Timor.  Australia's imports from 
LDCs and East Timor increased substantially si nce 2003.  Merchandise import growth from LDCs 
and East Timor has been stronger than the gr owth of imports from the rest of the world . 
WIPO-IP Australia Joint Working Group on In tellectual Property Technical Assistance 
24. 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  IP/C/W/550/Add.1 
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  WIPO and Australia would work together to "…de velop and implement joint projects in cases where 
Australia's and WIPO's expertise and resources would combine effectively to meet identified needs for training and assistance". 
25. In recent years, WIPO and IP Australia have agreed an annual Work Programme of technical 
assistance activities.  The key activity in 200 9-2010 was an advanced training workshop in 
examination of traditional and non-traditional trade marks.  Held in Canberra from 
19 to 23 October 2009, the workshop attracted par ticipants from 18 countries in the Asia-Pacific 
region - Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Hong  Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, 
Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pa kistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, 
Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam.  
26. The aim of the workshop was to highlight th e increasing importance of non-traditional trade 
marks to business owners and to share IP Australia's  experiences in examining applications for these 
marks.  The workshop achieved this by:  
• providing advanced training on the examination of traditional and non-traditional trade marks; 
• informing participants on the recent developmen ts in international trade mark law;  and 
• providing an opportunity to exchange views and share national experiences in administering 
trade mark systems. 
27. IP Australia is also supporting the Queensl and University of Technology (QUT)/WIPO 
Master of Intellectual Property Law course.  Deve loped in collaboration with the WIPO World Wide 
Academy, the course commenced in February 2010 .  It is the first WIPO-endorsed postgraduate 
course to be offered in the Asia-Pacific region. 
Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP) 
28. The Department of Resources, Energy and Tour ism and the Department of Climate Change 
and Energy Efficiency jointly manage Australia's  engagement in the Asia-Pacific Partnership on 
Clean Development and Climate (APP).  The APP brings together seven leading developed and 
developing nations in collaboration to address cl imate change, energy security and air pollution 
challenges in a way that encourages economic de velopment and reduces poverty.  Members include 
Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, South Korea and the United States of America.  This grouping 
represent around half the world's emissions, energy use, gross domestic product (GDP) and population, and is an important initiative that engages key greenhouse gas emitting countries in the 
Asia-Pacific region.  The Australian Government  announced $A 100 million over five years for the 
initiative at the January 2006 Ministerial meeting.  The Australian funding has been fully committed 
to over 54 APP projects across all eight Task Forces and includes both clean technology projects and capacity building activities. 
IP Australia's Australian Leadership Awar ds Fellowship Programme (ALA Programme) 
29. The ALA Programme is an AusAID-funded initiative that aims to develop leadership, address 
priority regional issues and build partnerships and linkages with developing countries.  IP Australia 
participated in this Programme for the second time  by hosting five IP officials ('Fellows') from 22 
March to 18 June 2010.  The officials represented th e IP Offices of China, India, Indonesia, Thailand 
and Viet Nam. 
30. The objectives of IP Australia's 2010 ALA Programme were: 
• enhance management and leadership capabilities in Asian IP Offices through provision of 
training and mentoring; IP/C/W/550/Add.1 
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  • facilitate greater understanding of key offices in our region, and to contribute to development 
of peer networks between Asian IP O ffices (including with IP Australia);  
• provide opportunities for IP Australia staff to  further develop the management/leadership 
skills and cultural awareness capabilities; and 
• strengthen linkages between Australian and c ounterpart IP agencies to support ongoing 
development of robust IP regim es in the Asia-Pacific region. 
31. During their three month placement, each Fello w was located in an area of IP Australia 
relevant to their expertise and experience.  They  participated in formal training programmes on 
leadership and management, worked  closely with their IP Australia counterparts and had access to a 
mentor throughout the Programme.  The feedback from Fellows on the ALA Programme and the experience at IP Australia was extremely positive.   
"I strongly believe that the objectives of the ALA Programme have been fully achieved.  The 
training Programmes were very ca refully selected and intelligently spaced apart, providing a 
great learning opportunity to us.  The knowledge of the trainers, wealth of content in the 
training materials and the opportunity to attend  those training Programmes with people from 
IP Australia and other Australian organizations, all helped us to learn and imbibe the latest trends and techniques in Leadership and Manage ment.  I am quite confident that I can 
implement most, if not all, of my learning in my workplace..."  (Feedback from one of IP 
Australia's ALA Fellows) 
32. Participation in this Programme is, anecdot ally, expected to l ead to new roles and 
responsibilities for the Fellows on return to their local office.  The Fellows have learnt valuable skills 
that are transferable across the IP and public sector  roles they may find themselves undertaking in the 
future.  One of the Fellows was recently prom oted and has taken on new responsibilities in the 
international relations area of his IP office. 
APEC – Intellectual Property Experts Group (IPEG)  
33. 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 meetings in July 2009 in 
Singapore and in March 2010 in Hiroshima, Japan.  At these meetings, Australia tabled the following 
papers: 
• Recent Australian Copyright Cases and Developments  
• Update on "Conducting Effective Intellectual Pr operty Rights Public Education & Awareness 
Campaigns for SMEs" ( as part of a joint capacity building project with Singapore and Hong 
Kong ) 
• Australia's Melbourne Patent Examination Centre ( information paper ) 
• A new collaboration to promote small busines s growth in Australia:  IP Australia's 
partnership with Business Enterprise Centres ( information paper ) 
• IP Australia's approach to Quality and Risk Management ( information paper ) 
• Update on "Intellectual Property Explorer" web tool to enhance IP Education and Awareness 
by SMEs ( as part of a joint capacity buildi ng project with Singapore and Hong Kong ) 
• Vancouver Group Mutual Exploitation Initiative ( information paper ) 
• Strategic Consideration of IPR Capacity Building Requirements in APEC Economies – 
survey results ( a joint paper and initiative between Australia and China ) 
• Recent developments in copyright in Australia ( information paper ). 
  IP/C/W/550/Add.1 
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  34. 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 to 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 Pr ogramme and Intellectual Property Explorer 
35. The APEC IPR Public Education and Awaren ess Programme (2006-2010) is a multi-phase 
APEC-funded capacity building project.  Conducte d collaboratively by the Intellectual Property 
Office of Singapore (IPOS), the Hong Kong Intell ectual Property Department (HKIPD) and IP 
Australia, the programme aimed to enhance skills  and provide resources to APEC economies to 
develop and implement public edu cation and awareness strategies that promote the effective use of 
IPR in the region.   
36. The Programme comprised several workshops that  focused on the key elements of developing 
and implementing IPR awareness and education stra tegies.  IPOS, HKIPD and IP Australia also 
developed a simple and useful Market Research Guide to assist APEC economies to conduct IPR-
related qualitative and quantitative research.  The presentations from these workshops and Market 
Research Guide are available from the website www.apecipeg-pear.org. 
37. The final stage of the project was the delivery of Intellectual Property Explorer , a free, online 
and simple business tool to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) identify and protect their IP assets.  It contains a series of interactive diagnostic  questions designed to review each piece of IP in 
an SME's business, and provide users with informati on on what they should consider as part of their 
IP business strategy.  The Intellectual Property Explorer was launched in July 2010 and is available 
from the website www.intellectualpropertyexplorer.com. 
WCO IPR capacity building efforts 
38. The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service has contributed to the IPR capacity 
building efforts of the WCO.  Two of its officer s from the Trade Policy and Regulation Branch have 
been involved in WCO funded IPR diagnostic missions  to certain WCO member countries to assist in 
assessing their IPR enforcement frame work.  One officer was involved as part of a WCO team to the 
Mongolian People's Republic (Mongolia) in June 2009, and the other was involved as part of a WCO 
team to the Republic of Fiji Islands (Fiji) in Febr uary 2010.  The main topics focussed on for each 
mission were (a) administrative structures and strategic management of the issues involved in combating counterfeiting and piracy, (b) legislation, (c) co-operation with the private sector and other 
government supervisory authorities, (d) risk analysis  and exchange of information and (e) capacity 
building in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy.  
III. SEMINARS 
39. Australian officials presented papers at th e following regional and international fora: 
• APEC Seminar on "Signal Piracy, Regulation and Enforcement in a Convergent World", 
Jakarta, Indonesia in December 2009 (paper on 'Aus tralia's approach to signal theft');  
• WIPO National Seminar on Copyright, Port V ila, Vanuatu in December 2009 (three papers, 
on the benefits of copyright protection, collective management, and promoting creativity);  
• APEC IP i-Facilitator Training course in Deaj eon, Republic of Ko rea, August 2009.  
Organized by the Korean IP Office, this trai ning course aimed to enhance the understanding 
and utilisation of IPR information in the Asia-Pacific region.  IP  Australia gave a presentation 
on the Australian patent system and patent searching practices. IP/C/W/550/Add.1 
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  • The Second Workshop for Cooperation in the Harmonisation of Test Guidelines (TGs) and 
DUS1 Testing was held in Bangkok, Thailand in  August 2009 on the margins of East Asia 
Plant Protection Forum.  Australia delivered the workshop with assistance from the Japanese 
Ministry of Fisheries and Forestry.  The workshop focussed on harmonising documentation 
and examination procedures. 
• Symposium on the Impact of Plant Variety Protection (PVP) in Seoul, Republic of Korea in 
August 2009.  Presentations were delivered by nine UPOV member States, including 
Australia, on the effect of the plant variety protection system on the seed and nursery 
industry.  A combination of UPOV member States and non-UPOV Asian countries attended.  
• An APEC IPEG Seminar, "Raising Awarene ss and Providing Policy Insights on Promoting 
Appropriate Access and Protec tion of Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge", in 
Lima in August 2009; 
• WIPO Regional Symposium on Management of In tellectual Capital, Intellectual Assets and 
Intellectual Property in Hong Kong, China, Oc tober 2009.  Australia gave a presentation on 
"The Role of the Government in Facilitating the Greater Use of Intellectual Property and 
Intellectual Capital as a Strategic Tool".  
• International Seminar on Plant Variety Protection in the Public Sector in Seoul, Republic of 
Korea, April 2010 on the margins of East Asia Plant Protection Forum.  Australia was one of 
eight countries to deliver information on th eir experience on the use of Plant Variety 
Protection. 
• WIPO High Level Forum on the Global Intellectual Property Information Infrastructure for 
Promotion for Innovation, held in Tokyo Marc h 2010.  Australia presented on "Leveraging IT 
to expand access to IP databases:  Use of co mmon standards and best practices to enhance 
efficiency of the IP System and promote innovation". 
• WIPO Asia-Pacific Symposium on Geographical Indications (GIs) and their Impact on the 
Rural Economic Development held in Chongqing, China November 2009. 
 
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