5.1.7. Applicant name: Overseas entity (AG, S.r.L etc.)

Date Published

An overseas entity can apply to IP Australia to be registered as the owner of a design. The entity must apply to us in the same way as an Australian body corporate.

Most countries have some kind of company or corporation law which sets out the requirements for registering as a company in that country. As in Australia, overseas companies can be legal ‘persons’. However, they do not always use the same identifiers as Australian companies (i.e. not all countries use abbreviations like Pty Ltd, Ltd or Inc). In applying for a design they should give company type abbreviations for the country in which they are based (e.g. AG for Germany, S.r.L for Italy). This link can be a useful starting point in trying to determine a typical company abbreviation for an overseas country.

It helps us complete the identification of an overseas company if the place of incorporation is provided, but this information is not compulsory.​​​​


Foreign corporate registers

Foreign corporate registers can be useful for finding specific information about an entity and about the types of entities recognised in a particular jurisdiction. This list of official business registers can be a useful starting point. If we access this information, the information should be attached to file.


English transliteration of overseas entity type

Where appropriate, an English transliteration (i.e. from another alphabet to the English alphabet) of the overseas entity type may be considered acceptable.

Care must be taken with Chinese company names where a transliteration has been provided. Only the Chinese transliterations in the List of acceptable overseas identifiers can always be considered indicators of legal personality.

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Precedent on the Register

It can be useful to see if we have accepted the same type of owner name in the past. However, as our practices have changed over time, it is not wise to rely on this alone in all cases. If there is doubt as to the legal status of an owner, it is better to query it.

Amended Reasons

Amended Reason Date Amended
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