At a glance
Policy ID: 55
Status: Closed
Priority: No priority assigned
Issue summary
Patents, trade marks and designs legislation allow the courts to award additional damages for infringement on top of those to compensate for the harm caused. Additional damages are awarded by punishment in cases of flagrant infringement rather than compensation and restitution, to deter further infringement.
Plant Breeder's Rights (PBR) don't have this award. The former Advisory Council on Intellectual Property (ACIP) in its 2010 review of enforcement of PBR considered that this was inequitable and reduces the ability of PBR owners to enforce their rights. The government accepted ACIP's recommendation in June 2011 to amend the PBR Act to include exemplary damages, modelled on s122 of the Patents Act.
Comments
This item is included in the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Productivity Commission Response Part 1 and Other Measures) Act 2018 which received Royal Assent on 24 August.