Australian Government IP Principles


The Commonwealth Government has adopted a set of "Intellectual Property Principles for Australian Government agencies".

According to the Introduction:

The Statement of IP Principles covers principles relevant to IP management, including procurement, record keeping, industry development and broader innovation policy, and public access.

The business practices and objectives of Australian Government agencies are varied. Many agencies create, publish and distribute materials for the purpose of informing and educating the community. They do not necessarily seek to control the extent to which the material is used. In contrast, other agencies have a strong commercial focus where active management and control of IP may be necessary to achieve business outcomes.

The Statement of IP Principles provides a broad policy framework for IP management by Australian Government agencies. Agencies are encouraged to develop individual IP management frameworks that reflect their own needs and objectives, consistent with other relevant Australian Government policies and requirements.

As a result the principles are pitched at a very general level.

The announcement is here and the principles here (pdf).

One might hope that where the materials were primarily relevant for the purposes of informing and educating the community, the material would be made available freely or on a cost recovery basis only.

In this respect the Attorney-General's Department and IP Australia have done very well at making legislation available either from their own websites or through austlii.

Austlii, however, is in funding difficulties and is calling for help here and here.

Posted: Wednesday - May 23, 2007 at 05:08 PM         |


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