Have you been busy creating new products, business ideas, concepts, processes, and inventions?
Many people are taking advantage of this time of confinement to reinvent, strategise and grow their intellectual property portfolios. It is essential, however, to know when and to whom you can disclose certain ideas.
The granting of certain intellectual property rights hinges on the secrecy of new designs and inventions as any public disclosure can void registrability.
You can think of it in these terms: tell anyone and your rights may be lost because the idea is no longer novel, which is a critical element of certain intellectual property registration processes!
This is the case for patents and design registrations. The Patents Act makes provision for a grace period of up to one year for any inadvertent disclosure of patentable subject matter by the inventor in certain circumstances.
The current Australian Designs Act still makes no provision for any public disclosure by the designer, and so in cases where the designer has already discussed their design or dropped something on social media, registrability of such rights is void.
This means it is critical that a first step taken involves having a Non-Disclosure Agreement or Deed of Confidentiality signed before disclosing your novel idea to anybody.
In late 2019 IP Australia sought submissions from the public on proposed amendments to the Designs Act to provide for greater flexibility for designers and inclusion of a prior art grace period. The majority of submissions were in favour of a 12-month automatic grace period.
Parliament is likely to review IP Australia’s recommendations in a Bill at some time later in 2020.
For now, it is our best advice to keep your new ideas secret and seek the advice of our Intellectual Property Team in relation to securing confidentiality.
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