Latest Trends in Australian Intellectual Property Applications

The China IPR Protection Network — an official portal under China's Ministry of Commerce — published a summary on September 22, 2026 of IP Australia's annual Australian IP Report, which analyzes 2025 filing data across patents, trademarks, designs and plant breeder's rights. Its central finding: IP activity in Australia remains brisk and is evolving with wider market dynamics. Event-study analysis cited in the report shows Australian SMEs that secure a first patent grant record higher revenue and productivity than unpatented peers, and that registered trademarks likewise correlate with stronger revenue; 'soft' IP filings — trademarks and designs — hit all-time annual highs.

Patent filings overall dipped slightly between 2024 and 2025, which IP Australia reads as normalization after the post-pandemic 2021-22 peak, but provisional applications jumped 58.1%, driven mostly by domestic applicants — a trend attributed to digital (including AI) tools lowering entry barriers and to provisionals serving as a low-cost entry point to test commercialization. The United States remains the largest foreign source of patent applications, while filings from China grew 13.4%, Singapore 29% and Finland 20.3%. The PCT share fell 2.9 percentage points as direct filings rose. Health-related technologies — pharmaceuticals, medical technology and biotechnology — accounted for 33.3% of standard patent applications, while electrical machinery and energy filings grew 12.8%; computer-implemented technology filings fell 10.1%, a decline IP Australia expects to reverse in 2026 following the Full Federal Court's Aristocrat Technologies decision and updates to the Patent Examiner's Manual.

Trademark applications grew in 2025, with Australian residents filing 57.4% of the total and China the largest overseas source for a second straight year at 14.8%, up 20.6% on 2024; filings arrived from a ten-year high of 138 countries. Service-class filings (up 18.5%) grew nearly twice as fast as goods filings (10.7%), and technology classes covering AI products and services rose sharply. Design applications climbed 7.1% to a record — 38% above pre-pandemic levels — with registrations up 9.9%, while certifications slipped 1.8%.

On copyright, the report notes that the Australian Parliament passed amendments to the Copyright Act 1968 on March 31, 2026, establishing a scheme for the use of orphan works and confirming that teaching-related provisions apply equally offline and online. Following the report's release, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on July 15, 2026 outlined the government's national AI policy, confirming that creators' rights will continue to be protected and that the government will not introduce a text-and-data-mining exception into copyright law, though the detailed framework has yet to be announced. IP Australia is also reviewing the plant breeder's rights system, having issued a new PBR practice and procedure manual in 2025 as PBR applications fell for a third straight year to 264.

Original Link: https://ipr.mofcom.gov.cn/article/gjxw/gbhj/dyz/adly/202608/1997252.html