AUSTRALIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Scott Colvin, Warren Scott and Lachlan Speirs, Archer Scott Lawyers
chisees on controlled-use terms, and protect their get-up, domain names and social media handles. In inbound and master-franchise arrangements, register - ing the marks early guards against brand squatting. Security can be granted over registered intellectual property to support financing. 7.3 Industrial Designs Designs are protected under the Designs Act 2003 (Cth) and registered by IP Australia. Registration pro - tects the overall visual appearance of a product, com - prising its shape, configuration, pattern or ornamenta - tion, where the design is new and distinctive. A registered design is protected for an initial period of five years, renewable to a maximum of ten years, and must be both registered and certified before it can be enforced. Remedies for infringement are consist - ent with those available for other intellectual property rights. A reform to align Australian design protection more closely with international practice has been under consideration. 7.4 Copyright Copyright is governed by the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) and arises automatically on creation, without any system of registration. It protects original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, as well as films, sound recordings, broadcasts and published editions, generally for the life of the author plus 70 years, with other terms applying to other subject matter. The owner has exclusive rights to reproduce, com - municate and publish the work, and authors enjoy moral rights of attribution and integrity. Infringement is enforced in the Federal Court, with remedies includ - ing injunctions, damages or an account of profits, and additional damages for flagrant infringement. 7.5 Others Software is protected as a literary work under copy - right law. There is no separate database right; a data - base or other compilation is protected only to the extent that copyright subsists in the originality of its selection, arrangement or compilation, rather than in the underlying data as such. Trade secrets and con - fidential information are protected not by registration but by the equitable action for breach of confidence
and by contract, through non-disclosure agreements and the duties owed by employees. Other rights include protection for circuit layouts under the Circuit Layouts Act 1989 (Cth) and for plant varie - ties under the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act 1994 (Cth), and the protection of unregistered get-up and reputa - tion through passing off and the Australian Consumer Law. Domain names are administered by the national domain authority. Data protection is governed principally by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the 13 Australian Privacy Princi - ples, which regulate how entities handle personal information. The Act applies to Australian government agencies and to private sector organisations – gen - erally those with annual turnover above AUD3 mil - lion together with certain others. The Notifiable Data Breaches scheme requires eligible data breaches to be reported to the regulator and to affected individu - als. The regime was significantly strengthened by the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (Cth), which introduced: • a statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy from 10 June 2025; • a tiered civil penalty regime; • a doxxing offence; • enhanced security obligations; • a Children’s Online Privacy Code to be in place by December 2026; and • transparency obligations for automated decision- making from December 2026. 8. Data Protection 8.1 Applicable Regulations A further tranche of reform is being progressed, which may include a fair and reasonable test for the handling of personal information. Sector and state laws on mat - ters such as health records, surveillance and unsolic - ited communications operate alongside the Act.
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