The Designs Amendment (Advisory Council on Intellectual Property
Response) Act 2021 (the Act) received Royal Assent on 10 September
2021.
As mentioned in our previous article, this update will bring
improvements to Australia's Registered Designs System through
proposed changes to the Australian Designs Act 2003.
The changes introduced by the Act are grouped into seven
schedules and we have provided a summary below of the most
noteworthy changes.
Schedule 1 - Introduction of a 12-month grace
period
The Designs Act is to be somewhat aligned with the Patents Act
through the introduction of a 12-month grace period. Under
revisions to Section 17, certain disclosures that occur within the
12 month period, ending at the end of the day before the
priority date of the subject design, are to be disregarded
when assessing a design's newness and distinctiveness. Those
disclosures include publication or use of the design by, or derived
from, the registered owner (or the
