Baldwins
Added: Jan 31, 2012
The Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) (PPSA) introduces in Australia a national law that will affect secured financing transactions involving personal property, including most forms of intellectual property (IP). Anyone who is selling, purchasing or licensing IP assets in Australia or is involved in financing transactions where IP is a security should, therefore, evaluate their arrangements in light of the PPSA.
Like the New Zealand regime, the Australian PPSA provides for the creation and enforceability of security interests in personal property, the determination of priority between competing security interests or other types of interests in the same personal property, and the establishment of a publically searchable register of security interests called the Personal Property Security Register ("PPSR" ). Most forms of IP, such as registered trade marks, patents, copyright, registered designs and licences, are personal property over which a security interest may be registered. However, the definition does not include trade secrets or unregistered trade mark rights.