IP Australia and IPONZ have agreed to undertake a trial to recognise, where appropriate, the previous examination decisions made by each office, not only to further align and enhance the quality and consistency of trade mark examination, but also to assess the feasibility of a future model of mutual recognition in examination between the New Zealand and Australian IP Offices.  IPONZ and IP Australia will commence this trial on 1 February 2010 where each office will recognise prior examination decisions made in the other office (where this is possible having regard to local requirements).

Any applicant who has filed a trade mark in one country who then files an application for the same mark in the other country can opt into the trial.

This entry was posted by Virginia Beniac-Brooks on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 2:30 pm and is filed under Australian Trademarks, New Zealand Trademarks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.