4.3 Formalities assessment: Formalities notices

If the applicant has provided unacceptable, unclear or insufficient information to allow the design to be registered, the formalities officer must issue a formalities notice. It must clearly set out and explain all of the issues that the officer has identified.

If the issues relate to unclear information, the officer may ask the applicant to provide further information about the detail supplied. Alternatively, and also relevant if detail is unacceptable or missing, is the option for the applicant to request the application be amended under s 28. The notice should explain what types of amendments are allowable.

The officer may also provide suggestions on the type of amendment that would allow the application to be registered.

In addition to setting out options to progress the application, the notice should indicate that the application will lapse (s 33(1)(b)) if the applicant does not respond within the required time (s 41).

Further notices

If the applicant provides further information about unclear application details and/or an amendment request but this response does not satisfactorily address the issues that were raised, the officer can issue a further notice. The further notice should clearly indicate which issues would be overcome as a result of the further information provided and which ones would not.

Alternatively, the applicant may make a submission challenging the validity of the issues raised. In this case the officer should revisit their assessment, taking into account the points raised in the submission.

Issues missed by the formalities officer

If the formalities officer misses an issue in an application that was not raised in an earlier first notice, they will need to send a further notice along with apologies for the omission.

​​​​​​​Where appropriate, the applicant may be granted an extension of time under s 137(1).