AUSTRALIA: IP Office Develops Further Responses to Suspicious Trademark Filings

As previously reported, IP Australia has seen a dramatic uptick in trademark applications from Chinese applicants which appear to use addresses for service without permission, forcing IP Australia to label certain suspicious-looking filings as AFS IN DISPUTE (address for service in dispute).

Since IP Australia began efforts to mitigate this issue, such filings have dropped off significantly, but they continue to be filed in batches, as shown below for the months of July and August (as of August 17):

IP Australia’s Additional Security Measures

As part of its response, and to reinforce its ongoing commitment to safeguarding IP rights data, IP Australia is instigating the following additional security measures:

• Multi-factor authentication (scheduled to launch in September); and
• Increased credit card protections (effective from August 18).

Multi-Factor Authentication

A small group of attorney firms is testing the proposed new multi-factor authentication system, which IP Australia expects to roll out as a mandatory requirement to everyone else in September 2025.

If the trial goes smoothly, users of the online service portal will be required to verify their identity using a second method, such as via an email verification step.

Increased Credit Card Protections

IP Australia has rolled out increased credit card protections via the third-party provider Eway. These were originally scheduled to go live on August 8, but this was pushed back to August 18.

When logging into the online service portal, the system now looks for evidence of suspicious activity. If necessary, the system will seek additional ID verification, such as a onetime passcode sent to the account linked to the online service or via the use of knowledge-based questions.

Most major existing users of IP Australia are predicted to notice very little difference. Only about 5 percent of users (possibly mostly new/first-time users) are expected to be affected and will likely need to provide additional verification. However, time will tell if the rollout will proceed as smoothly as anticipated.

Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of this article, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific concern or interest. Law & Practice updates are published without comment from INTA except where it has taken an official position.

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