Australia’s Trade Marks Amendment Regulations, 2025
12 December 2025
Australia’s Trade Marks Amendment (International Registrations, Hearings and Oppositions) Regulations 2025, whichintroduces minor amendments to the Trade Marks Regulations 1995, has been approved byGovernor-General Samantha Joy Mostyn.
The regulations are composed of seven schedules, with Schedules 1 and 5 taking effect on December 19, 2025.
Schedule 1 extends the window during which parties may file a notice of intention to defend an opposition. Parties now have two months – up from one month – to file a notice if the opposition relates to the following:
- The extension of protection to an international registration designating Australia
- Registration of a trademark filed domestically
- An application to cease protection of an international registration for non-use
- An application to remove a registered trademark for non-use
“These changes will apply to oppositions where the acceptance of the trade mark or international registration designating Australia is published on or after December 19, and oppositions where the non-use application is published on or after December 19,” IP Australia’s website reads.
Schedule 5 extends the period for examining applications where a hearing is requested on or after December 19, 2025.
According to the website: “This removes the need for applicants to request extensions of time when seeking a hearing close to the acceptance due date. Deferment of acceptance pauses the deadline after which an application would otherwise lapse if examination of a trade mark application is not completed or, for an international registration designating Australia (IRDA), when the examination period would end. The Registrar may now defer acceptance on their own initiative in this scenario.”
Schedules 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 took effect on November 19, 2025.
Schedule 2 introduces partial replacement of a registered trademark by a protected international trademark. Schedule 3 adds a new ground for rejection of an IRDA. Schedule 4 states that an accepted IRDA will not automatically acquire fully protected status if the Registrar has issued a notice of intention to revoke acceptance. Meanwhile, Schedule 6 introduces two technical amendments while Schedule 7 indicates how these amendments will apply in specific situations.
Sarah Dixon | a partner @ FB Rice, Sydney
Sarah Dixon, a partner at FB Rice in Sydney, believes the amendments will improve Australia’s trademark system. “The amendments will bring the Australian system in closer alignment to the Madrid system, which, in my opinion, can only benefit trademark owners, particularly those with global portfolios,” she said.
Many of the amendments alleviate some of the challenges faced by applicants, particularly concerns about costs and delays. “For example, the new provisions will allow for a trademark application to be deferred when a hearing has been requested. This means an applicant no longer needs to file, sometimes multiple, extension of time requests pending the hearing and its resolution,” Dixon explained.
“Further, the amendments which will allow for partial replacement of an international trademark of an identical national mark means that applicants can now take advantage of the cost benefits of consolidating trademark portfolios, which in turn reduces costs in management and at the renewal stage,” she concluded.
- Espie Angelica A. de Leon
