About IPTA

The Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia (IPTA) is the peak professional body representing Australian patent and trademark attorneys.

With 787 Members (of which 489 are Fellows), IPTA aims to:

• Promote improvements in patent, trademark, logo, design and copyright laws and regulations 

• Frame and establish by-laws and a code of ethics for patent and trademark attorneys and other members

• Encourage communication between members, allowing them to exchange professional ideas and knowledge on patents, trade marks and copyright issues, and to gather and disseminate professional knowledge

• Promote training and educational status of patent and trademark attorneys, and to maintain highest standards of professional conduct and knowledge

• Help settle disputes between IPTA practitioners, and between practitioners and clients

• For intellectual property (IP) creators and users, IPTA offers qualified professional attorneys, abiding by a code of ethics, with links to colleagues overseas who can help with international registration of patents and trademarks.

• For Members, IPTA offers training and accreditation to the highest standards, and helps settle disputes between attorneys, and between attorneys and their clients.

• For the IP creators and users, IPTA offers the highest level of professional advice on all matters relating to patents, trademarks and training for patent and trade marks attorneys.

• For the media IPTA provides an independent, one-stop location for information and comment on patents and trade marks, on the Institute itself, issues relating to international patents and trademarks and the effects of free trade agreements on Australian patents and trademarks.

Membership Levels and Requirements

The members of the Institute are divided into six classes, styled respectively, Fellows, Ordinary Members, Student Members, Overseas Members, Distinguished Fellows and Emeritus Fellows.

Fellows shall comprise every patent attorney who was a Fellow on 9 March 2012, and every patent attorney or trade marks attorney who has been duly elected or transferred into the class of Fellows. Every candidate for election or transfer into the class of Fellows shall:

(i) 

(a) be of good repute;

(b) be ordinarily resident in Australia;

AND EITHER

(ii)

(a) be a patent attorney registered in Australia;

(b) in the opinion of Council, by reason of his or her qualifications in connection with science or            engineering, be so qualified as to be able substantially to advance the objects of the Institute; and

(c) have, for not less than five years (or the part time equivalent thereof) from the date of registration as a patent attorney, in the opinion of Council, been engaged in Australia in carrying out the professional work of a patent attorney (which may include work relating to trade marks), such work constituting the candidate's main professional activity and excluding casual or intermittent engagement in such work;

 OR

 (iii) 

(a) be a trade marks attorney registered in Australia, and

 (b) in the opinion of Council, by reason of his or her qualifications and in connection with science, engineering, law, economics, commerce or the arts, be so qualified as to be able substantially to advance the objects of the Institute; and

 (c) have, for not less than five years (or the part time equivalent thereof) from the date of registration as a trade marks attorney, in the opinion of Council, been engaged in Australia in carrying out the professional work of a trade marks attorney, such work constituting the candidate's main professional activity and excluding casual or intermittent engagement in such work.

Ordinary Members comprise every person who was an Associate Member (an old class of member) of the Institute on 25 April 1998, and every person thereafter duly elected or transferred into the class of Ordinary Member. Every candidate for election or transfer into the class of Ordinary Member shall:

• be of good repute;

  • and either (i) be a patent attorney registered in Australia; or

  • (ii) be a trade marks attorney registered in Australia; or

  • (iii) in the opinion of the Council, by reason of his or her qualifications in and connection with the law, science, engineering or the arts, be so qualified as to be able substantially to advance the objects of the Institute.

Student Members comprise every person who was a Student Member on 25 April 1998 and every person thereafter elected into the class of Student Member. Every candidate for election as a Student Member shall:

• be of good repute;

• not be a patent attorney or a trade marks attorney registered in Australia;

• either:

  • (i) be engaged at the time of election, and have been so engaged for a period of at least six months, as a pupil or assistant by or under the supervision of a patent attorney or trade marks attorney registered in Australia, or

  • (ii) be engaged at the time of election, and have been engaged in Australia for a period of at least six months, in carrying out legal and/or technical work related to industrial property in a department of a firm, corporation or organisation in Australia which is engaged in the carrying out of the industrial property the firm, corporation or organisation; and

• have entered or shall propose to enter for at least one of the subjects of the examinations prescribed for the registration of patent attorneys or trade marks attorneys in Australia.

Overseas Members comprise every person who was an Overseas Member on 25 April 1998 and every person thereafter who is duly elected or transferred to the class of Overseas Member. Every candidate for election as an Overseas Member shall:

• be of good repute;

• be qualified to practise and be carrying on practice in a place outside Australia as a patent attorney, trade mark attorney, patent agent or trade mark agent, or in some other capacity which, in the opinion of the Council, is the equivalent thereof in that place;

• not have an office or place of business in Australia;

• not be ordinarily resident in Australia

Distinguished Fellows comprise every person who was an Honorary Member of the Institute on 8 April 2011 and every person thereafter who is duly elected to the class of Distinguished Fellow.  Every Distinguished Fellow is a person who, in the opinion of the Council, have rendered or are able to render such assistance in promoting the objects of the Institute as to merit their admission as a Distinguished Fellow.  Any Distinguished Fellow who may be a Fellow in active practise as a patent attorney within Australia may designate himself or herself a Fellow and retain the privileges of a Fellow.

Emeritus Fellows comprise former Fellows who have been duly transferred into the class of Emeritus Fellow.  Every candidate for transfer into the class of Emeritus Fellow shall:

• at the time of the transfer be a Fellow and have, at that time, been a Fellow for a period of at least ten years;

• be of good repute;

and 

• no longer be registered as a patent attorney in Australia; 

or 

• otherwise, no longer be actively practising.

Emeritus Fellows do not retain voting rights of Fellows.

Membership Forms
In order for a person to apply for membership of the Institute, a membership application form is required to be completed and returned to the Institute Secretariat. The membership application form may be obtained from the Institute Secretariat, or may be downloaded from this site.

Click to download:

Membership Proposal Fellow

Membership Proposal Emeritus Fellow

Membership Proposal Ordinary

Membership Proposal Overseas

Membership Proposal Student

Click to download the Memorandum and Articles of Association

The Institute Council

The affairs of the Institute are managed by a Council elected annually from Fellows of the Institute. The Council comprises one president, two vice-presidents, ten Fellows and the immediate past president. All positions are voluntary and the Council endeavours to meet on a six weekly basis, or at least  eight meetings are conducted annually.

The members of Council for the period April 2011 to April 2012 are:         

President: 

• Mr Graham Cowin

Vice Presidents:  

• Ms Anne Makrigiorgos
• Mr Jeremy Dobbin

Councillors:       

• Mr Richard Baddeley
• Ms Janelle  Borham
• Mr Michael Caine
• Dr Trevor Davies
• Ms Christine Emmanuel
• Mr Greg Gurr
•  
  Ms Jennifer McEwan
• Dr Damian Slizys
• Mr Stuart  Smith
• Mr David Tadgell

Immediate Past President:           

• Mr Leon Allen           

The Institute Committees

The affairs of the Council have been separated into distinct areas in order to share the workload amongst the members of Council. Each distinct area is the responsibility of a committee and each committee is convened by a member of Council.

The current committees and their convenors are as follows:

The Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia (IPTA) is the peak professional body representing Australian patent and trade mark attorneys.
Phone Australia: 03 9819 2004. Email: mail@ipta.org.au

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