Australia’s Trade Mark System Further Simplified: Recent Amendments to Regulations
The Trade Marks Amendment (International Registrations, Hearings and Oppositions) Regulations 2025 passed on 18 November 2025 introduces several amendments designed to streamline the Australian trade mark system, reduce unnecessary complexity, and to ensure current standards align with the international Madrid Protocol system.
The amendments are scheduled to come into effect in two tranches. The most notable changes are as follows:
Amendments Effective from 19 November 2025
Partial Replacement Now Available
In circumstances where a party owns both a national Australian registration and a later filed identical International Registration Designating Australia (IRDA), it may be possible to replace the earlier national registration with the IRDA and still retain the earlier priority date. Now, this process will be amended so as to allow parties to elect for only partial replacement in respect of certain claimed goods/services. This amendment is available to eligible trade marks registered prior to 19 November 2025. Although replacement is a rarely utilised procedure, it can be useful for trade mark owners that own a mix of overlapping IRDAs and national registrations in Australia.
Revocation of Acceptance of IRDAs
In Australia, the Registrar may revoke acceptance of an IRDA where, for example, there was an error or omission during examination and the trade mark should not have been accepted. Previously, an IRDA could proceed to fully protected status at the end of the opposition period, even if the Registrar was considering revoking acceptance. Now, an IRDA will not be protected automatically at the end of the opposition period if revocation of acceptance is still pending.
Amendments Effective from 19 December 2025
Extended Deadline to File a Notice of Intention to Defend
In opposition and non-use proceedings, the deadline for submitting a notice of intention to defend has been extended from one month to two months. However, this will only be available where the acceptance of the trade mark is published on or after 19 December 2025.
Deferring Acceptance
In circumstances where a party requests a hearing close to the acceptance date of the trade mark, it is no longer necessary to apply for an extension of time. Instead, acceptance will simply be deferred until the hearing has been resolved. However, this only applied to hearings requested after 19 December 2025.
For the most part, these changes should be uncontroversial.
The change which is likely to have the greatest material impact is the extended deadline to defend oppositions. This will enhance the ability of foreign applicants to properly defend oppositions. If a foreign applicant has not appointed a local address for service, it may take longer than a month for the applicant to be notified of the opposition, by which time the deadline to defend the opposition may have expired. This is especially the case for IRDAs where communications are processed through WIPO and then transmitted to the agent appointed for the IR. However, it is still recommended to appoint a local agent in Australia to ensure that correspondence from IP Australia is brought to the trade mark owner or applicant’s attention as quickly as possible.
By Greg Pieris and Amelia-Rose Booth