7.1 Department of Industry — Industrial Property Section (DOI-IP Section)

The Department of Industry (Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies) administers the industrial-property rights: patents, designs, trademarks and the GI-registration practice. The IP Section's functions: receiving and examining applications; publishing and registering; hearing oppositions; issuing certificates and renewals; recording assignments and licences; administering the convention-priority faces (Paris applications); and the enforcement's first administrative face (infringement complaints where the Act provides). The office is also the contact point for WIPO's international-registration faces (the PCT and Madrid routes when used). The capacity critique (U2.6.1's note): thin examiners, backlog and the modernisation agenda — the Industrial Property Bill's long journey.