Legal Information

Please read this notice before using our web site

No responsibility assumed

The Advisory Council on Intellectual Property (ACIP), its officers and employees assume no responsibility in relation to the use of this web site or the information contained in it.

No advice provided

* On this web site ACIP does not provide legal or other advice in relation to intellectual property or any other matters.
* The information contained in this web site is not intended to be advice. It is general information only.
* The information contained in this web site is not adapted to any particular person’s circumstances and therefore cannot be relied upon to be of assistance in any particular case.

Professional advice recommended

The information in this web site should not be used as a substitute for professional advice and assistance and we strongly recommend that such advice and assistance be obtained before you take any commercial decisions or steps.

The intellectual property laws in other countries are different from those in Australia. You should consult an appropriate professional if foreign laws may affect you.

Information not complete or comprehensive

The information in this web site is not intended to be comprehensive or complete and may not be up to date or current. The web site may not contain information covering particular subjects or issues relevant to particular users.

No statements of the law

Unless specific provisions of legislation are quoted, ACIP does not make statements of the law in relation to any matter. The comments contained in this web site about the law are summaries which may not be comprehensive or complete. If you wish to know the law, you should either go to the relevant legislation or obtain advice from a qualified professional such as a solicitor, patent or trade mark attorney.

Technical terms used

The information in this web site uses terms which have technical meanings that may be different from their ordinary meanings and require specialist knowledge and expertise to understand properly and use effectively.

Information contains errors and inaccuracies

The databases accessible through this web site contain large quantities of information which has been entered manually and inevitably errors and inaccuracies occur in such a process. Although efforts are made to identify such errors and inaccuracies, the database nevertheless contains errors and inaccuracies.

Unreliability of third party information

Much of the information contained in the database accessible through this web site is provided to ACIP by third parties. It is not possible for ACIP to check the accuracy of the information provided by third parties. Inaccuracies may arise in that information in different ways and those inaccuracies may not be evident to users of this web site.

Commonwealth copyright

The materials on this site are the subject of copyright. Copyright entitles the owner to the exclusive right to copy and reproduce the materials. Copying or reproducing the materials may infringe the copyright. You are permitted only to download, display, print or reproduce the materials in unaltered form for personal, non-commercial use, research or study, or if you are a legal practitioner, patent attorney or trade marks attorney, for the purpose of giving professional advice. Requests for authorisation to use the materials contained on this site for any other purpose should be directed to the Manager, Legislative Services, AusInfo, GPO Box 1920, Canberra ACT 2601 or by email Cwealthcopyright@dofa.gov.au.

Third party copyright

The databases available through this web site may contain material in which third parties are the owners of copyright (such as logos and patent and design drawings). Copying such material may infringe the rights of others and therefore ACIP recommends that you obtain the appropriate approvals from the copyright owner before copying or doing any other infringing acts.

Privacy Policy

ACIP is concerned about protecting your privacy. This policy sets out how we handle clickstream data, cookies and e-mail addresses.

Clickstream data

Clickstreams are the paths a user takes when navigating a web page or the internet in general.

When you visit ACIP our Internet Service Provider makes a record of your visit and logs the following information for statistical purposes - the user's server address, the user's top level domain name (for example .com, .gov, .au, .uk etc), the date and time of visit to the site, the pages accessed and documents downloaded, the previous site visited, and the type of browser used.

ACIP examines this information to determine the traffic through the server as well as access levels to specific pages. In order to deliver better services, ACIP also performs statistical analysis to establish priorities and allocate resources. No attempt will be made to identify users or their browsing activities except, in the unlikely event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect the Internet Service Provider's logs. The statistics and log files may be preserved indefinitely and used at any time an in any way necessary to prevent security breaches and to ensure the integrity of the information supplied by ACIP.

E-mail addresses

We will only record your e-mail address if you send us a message. It will only be used for the purpose for which you have provided it and will not be added to a mailing list. We will not use your e-mail address for any other purpose and will not disclose it without your consent. Electronic mail submitted to ACIP is handled and saved according to the provisions of the Privacy Act 1988.

No endorsement of other organisations or businesses

Incorporated into this web site are links to the web sites of other organisations and businesses. The links we have incorporated do not and should not be taken as implying an endorsement or approval of the content of those web sites or the activities of the organisations and businesses responsible for those web sites.