Eligibility requirements

The Board has established a curriculum of studies that meets the minimum knowledge requirements of the Trade Marks Regulations 1995.

The curriculum consists of 4 topic groups, which together cover the required content to prepare students to practise as trade marks attorneys.

The groups are:

• A1 - Legal Process and A2 - Overview of Intellectual Property

This covers the Australian legal system and how intellectual property rights may be protected.

• B - Professional Conduct

This covers the rights, privileges and responsibilities of a trade marks attorney.

• C – Trade Marks Law

This covers the principles of trade marks and the trade marks system in Australia and New Zealand

• D – Trade Marks Practice

This covers the prosecution and maintenance of trade marks application in Australia and in other countries.

You can apply for an exemption if you have completed a non-accredited course of study within the last 10 years.

To approve an exemption, the Board must be satisfied that:

• You've passed the course of study
• The course has outcomes that are the same as, or similar to, an accredited course

To check whether your course has similar outcomes to an accredited course, you can compare it to the Board’s curriculum of studies.

Please note that exemptions must be based on a course of study. The Board can't take work experience into consideration for an exemption application.

If your application is approved, your exemption will be valid for 5 years.

Minor shortcomings

The Board will consider an exemption even if the course has not covered all the material in the curriculum. However, will not consider an application if there are significant gaps, or where an important topic has not been covered.

An exemption can also be based on multiple courses of study if together they would cover the relevant material.

Older courses

The Board will normally only approve courses completed within the last 7 years. The Board can't grant exemptions for courses older than 10 years.

Courses between 7-10 years old can be considered on a case-by-case basis. The Board will not grant an exemption if the course content is no longer current. This would include where the law or relevant practices have changed significantly. This is less likely for topic groups where the content does not change much over time, such as knowledge of legal processes.

International qualifications

Exemptions may be granted based on courses of study completed in countries other than Australia. This is most likely for topic groups A1, A2 and B where the law and the legal institutions studied are similar to Australia.

Trade Marks Law and Trade Marks Practice require substantial Australian content. It is unlikely that exemptions would be approved for these topic groups based on international qualifications.

How to apply

To apply for an exemption, you'll need to download and complete the relevant form. Remembering that only courses completed within the past 10 years can be considered by the Board