The Emergence and Development of Intellectual Property Law in Australia and New Zealand

THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW, R. Dreyfuss, J. Pila, eds, Oxford University Press, UK, Forthcoming, 2017

Sydney Law School Research Paper No. 16/68

24 Pages Posted: 12 Aug 2016 Last revised: 27 Mar 2017

Date Written: August 10, 2016

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the history of intellectual property laws in Australia and New Zealand, and directions into existing and emerging scholarship in this area. It discusses the swings and roundabouts of convergence and divergence in copyright, patent and trade mark legislation and caselaw as between these two former British colonies and the ‘mother country’. The picture is one of early colonial experimentation, followed by a long period of closely mirroring UK reforms. The late 20th Century saw both countries developing more distinctive IP laws – diverging on a range of fundamental questions. In the 21st Century, trade policy – trans-Tasman and global – has created pressures for convergence, but these siblings have grown apart, more perhaps than many realise, so there will be considerable resistance to any unifying projects. The different trajectories in how IP and indigenous cultural and knowledge systems interface in Australia and New Zealand are also discussed.

Keywords: Legal History, Intellectual Property, Trademark, Patent, Copyright, British Empire, Colonial History, TPP

JEL Classification: K10, K30

Suggested Citation

Weatherall, Kimberlee Gai, The Emergence and Development of Intellectual Property Law in Australia and New Zealand (August 10, 2016). THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW, R. Dreyfuss, J. Pila, eds, Oxford University Press, UK, Forthcoming, 2017, Sydney Law School Research Paper No. 16/68, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2821342

Kimberlee Gai Weatherall (Contact Author)

The University of Sydney - Faculty of Law ( email )

New Law Building, F10
The University of Sydney
Sydney, NSW 2006
Australia

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