Anthony Albanese, the leader of the Australian Labor party, has won the Australian elections just one week ago. This brings an end to almost a decade of Liberal party governing, the other big party, to power. After a historical quick sworn in procedure, as he had to be participating in the quad meeting with the leaders of the USA, Japan and India, he is now Australia's prime Minister.
With climate change one of the things on his and the independents agenda (which who he might need for governing) , he will need to look how to transform Australia's society away from their reliance on natural resources. Naturally, one of the ways to do this is with new innovative ways, and this is where intellectual property comes in.
But where to start when you want to assess Australia's IP landscape? Luckily, Australia IP, i.e. the Australian government, has recently published their IP report on 2021. This report provides a very valuable look into the countries' status quo. Below we will give you the headlines of what the numbers are in the areas of patents, trademarks and designs.
Patents
Australia received more than 32000 patent filings. 90 percent of the applications were from foreign countries, notably the USA, China, Japan, Germany and the UK.
Two Chinese companies were in the top 5 of filers. Oppo and Huawei. The other three top filers were LG, Nestle and Apple. The top five industries for patent applications were pharmaceuticals, medical technology, biotechnology, organic fine chemistry and computer technologies.
Trademarks
Australia received more than 88000 trademark applications in 2021. 78 percent of these applications were direct national applications. 60 percent of the applications were by locals.The top five classes for trademark protection were class 9 (electrical instruments), class 25 (clothing) class 35 (advertising), class 41 (education), class 42 (scientific services).
The top five applicants were Glaxo, Apple, Novartis, Samsung and Philip Morris. Locally the top five was Aristocrat Technologies, Endeavour, Coles, Aldi and Southcorp.
Designs
Australia received more than 8100 design applications. About 68 percent were filed by international companies. The top 5 being comprised by Philips, Xiaomi, Apple, Aussie Union Group Hongkong and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare. Locally, the top five is comprised of Zimmermann Wear, Phoenix Industries, Vuly Property, Frankie4 and With Jean.
What do the numbers say?
The numbers show that Australian IP is growing compared to earlier years. Sectors wise, COVID can be seen also with the pharmaceutical applications in patens and scientific services in trademarks.
The numbers provide a solid base to grow further from. The future will tell us whether the New Labor government led by Albanese will battle climate change and use IP as a weapon. Let's keep our eyes on the IP reports for the coming years to see whether or not this transition will happen.
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