THE AUSTRALIA-CHINA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT: IMPLICATIONS FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW

Abstract

Intellectual property is not usually the first thing that people think of when they talk about the Australia-China Free Trade Agreement1 (FTA) – an FTA is about ‘trade’: market access for agricultural products and manufactured goods, banking and educational services, easier access for Chinese investors and workers into Australia – the significance of intellectual property to trade is not foremost in most peoples’ minds. But when you ask Australian business people what they think about doing business in China, a great number in many fields are concerned about whether their innovative work will be protected – this is true for architects, manufacturers and educational software designers. And for innovative Chinese companies, whether they are domestically or internationally focussed, intellectual property is an increasingly important issue. Perhaps the first thing to say about this topic is that we don’t know what the actual implications of the FTA on intellectual property regulation will be. The FTA negotiations are concluded as a single undertaking – one whole agreement – and a key principle of that, is that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. Therefore in this regard it can be confidently said at this point, that nothing has yet been agreed, and that certainly applies to the intellectual property component of the negotiations. The following chapter will examine the implications of the proposed Australia-China FTA on intellectual property law. In particular, the chapter will consider key issues, such as why Australia believes it is important to include a separate chapter on intellectual property in the Australia-China FTA. Finally, the chapter will conclude by drawing some conclusions on what implications the Australia-China FTA might have on intellectual property regulation.