Intellectual Property Policy Forum

Address by The Hon Tim Fischer MP, Deputy Prime Minister, Leader of the National Party, Minister for Trade, to the Intellectual Property Policy Forum, Melbourne, 13 August 1997

I would like to say at the outset how pleased I am to be able to attend this policy forum to reinforce with you the priority that the Government places on being properly prepared for the review of the TRIPS Agreement in 2000.

Everyone here would agree on the importance of an effective, world-class intellectual property rights framework to encourage technological innovation and to promote incentive for research and investment, both at home and abroad.

The value of intellectual property protection world-wide has been estimated at $600 billion annually, and has played an important role in the growth of exports with a high intellectual property content.

The relevance of this for Australia is illustrated by the rapid growth of export earnings from royalties for film, television, music and computer software, which have more than doubled in the last six years, to $454 million in 1995-96.

Against this encouraging backdrop, it is vital that Australia's intellectual property framework be responsive to new developments in technology and ever changing business practices.

Moreover, the global nature of modern commerce and communications will require international harmonisation of intellectual property rules, to ensure that our exports are not rendered unprotected in the global market place. This is especially so in the Asia-Pacific region, where the level protection for new technology can be an issue of concern for our exporters.

So the question then is what strategy do we need to have in place to provide Australia with an intellectual property framework that remains responsive and supportive of continued economic growth and innovation and our trade performance.

In a constantly changing business environment, Australia's intellectual property community needs to help the Government with its approach to the TRIPS review. We need to get our ideas onto the global agenda and start influencing the scope and therefore the outcomes of these important negotiations.

What are the key areas for you in the next few years? Two issues that you will have discussed today are biotechnology, and electronic commerce.

As you have also heard this morning, biotechnology both in TRIPS and more widely, is emerging as a key trade policy issue. The TRIPS negotiations in 1999 on the exclusion from patentability of plants and animals will have major implications for the development of Australia's agrifood and pharmaceutical industries.

The success of Australian businesses such as Florigene, or medical breakthroughs such as the hormone Relaxin at the Howard Florey Institute here at Melbourne University, highlights the importance of a strong and effective intellectual property regime if Australia is to benefit from its research in agriculture and medicine.

The Government has already commenced discussions with pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agrifood industry groups on biotechnology issues, to determine our position in what is going to be a difficult international debate.

In the area of copyright and related rights, one of TRIPS' major fields, we greatly welcome the important advances made in the World Intellectual Property Organisation in updating international copyright standards.

The new WIPO Copyright Treaty and Performances and Phonograms Treaty, concluded last December, update international copyright standards to protect copyright more appropriately in today's digital age.

The global value of goods and services transacted over the Internet is currently estimated at around $3 billion, but is expected to reach $100-$150 billion by 2000. The work in WIPO and TRIPS is vital to the protection of the emerging technologies which are producing this growth.

And while it remains to be seen exactly how developments in WIPO and TRIPS will complement each other, pressure for incorporation of WIPO protection into TRIPS is likely before long.

As we have heard today, one of the major benefits of TRIPS is its international enforceability. However, many Australian businesses are still concerned about exporting their innovative technologies to the Asia-Pacific region in particular, due to concerns about TRIPS implementation.

This is why one of the Government's ongoing key intellectual property priorities is the implementation of TRIPS in the region.

We are pursuing this very strongly in APEC, and indeed, TRIPS implementation is a key part of the APEC intellectual property work program.

Australia has been an active participant in the APEC Intellectual Property Experts Group since its creation last year and we are looking forward to hosting the next meeting of the Group, in Canberra in March next year.

In addition to maintaining our strong international profile, this meeting should provide an opportunity to involve the Australian business and intellectual property communities more closely in APEC's work program.

The Government is also engaged in a number of bilateral intellectual property arrangements in the Asia-Pacific region, consistent with our renewed emphasis on bilateral approaches. Examples include an arrangement to enable reciprocal protection of industrial property with Taiwan, and we are also pursuing an Agreement on Industrial Property with Thailand.

The major changes taking place in the international intellectual property regime, and our active role in the region, bring into focus the need to keep our domestic intellectual property regime at the leading-edge of international practice.

The broad-ranging review of Australia's intellectual property system in 1998-99 should help to do just that. It is intended to clarify the broad objectives of our legislation, deal with restrictions on competition, and generally get our domestic intellectual property settings right.

In the meantime, there are other issues, such as parallel importation of sound recordings, where Government consideration is at a more advanced stage and where a decision can be expected soon. You will also be aware of the Government's important decisions in the last twelve months on the protection of test data, the extension of patent term and springboarding. The Copyright Amendment Bill is also currently before Parliament.

These are all examples of a Government actively engaged in intellectual property issues, with a determination to ensuring that an appropriate balance is struck to the widest benefit of Australian creators, innovators and the users of these products.

As some small evidence of that, in the area of trade policy, let me tell you that as a result of an organisational review of some of our trade policy resources, an intellectual property policy unit will shortly be established within the Trade Negotiations Division of the Department. The creation of such a unit focused on intellectual property reflects the growing interest and importance of intellectual property protection to the Australian business community both domestically and in major export markets. This is only going to increase as we approach the TRIPS Agreement review.

The core work of the Unit will remain on WTO TRIPS, but it will also be involved in issues of relevance in other fora, particularly WIPO and APEC. The Unit will also provide a focus for WTO related work on new technologies and on-line delivery systems as the TRIPS Agreement will be an important vehicle for establishing appropriate international protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in these areas.

Today's policy forum marks the beginning of what should be a period of intense consultation and decision-making, as we aim to get it right for TRIPS 2000. The Government had a close and productive relationship with industry during the negotiations for the TRIPS Agreement, and we would like to replicate that for 2000.

As Trade Minister and Minister responsible for the WTO, I look forward to staying closely in touch with you on these issues.