19.1. Priority date: overview

Date Published

Key legislation in this topic: Designs Act: ss 15, 27, 35, 36

Key related topics: Convention priority, Excluded designs, Who is entitled to be the registered owner?

The Designs Office assesses the validity of a design against what was known at a particular point in time – the priority date (see s 15).

The default priority date for a design is the date the owner filed the application for the design in Australia (s 27(1)(a)). This is the Filed date on Australian Design Search (ADS). If the application is subsequently registered, the initial 5 year registration period begins from this date (s 46).

However, the applicant may claim the priority date is an earlier date if:

The most common basis for claiming an earlier priority date is that the application is a convention application.

Amended Reasons

Amended Reason Date Amended
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