The Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Act 2012 will take effect from April 15, 2013 in Australia.
The Act raises the standards for patentability and broadens the grounds for examination of Australian patents. The new law applies to applications filed after April 15, 2013 and applications pending at April 15, 2013 and for which examination has not been requested.
For any currently pending Australian patent applications, if your application would benefit from a lower level of examination, we recommend that examination be requested on or before April 15, 2013, so as to reduce the chance of objections from the Australian Patent Office.
However if your Australian patent would benefit from a higher level presumption of validity of the final patent (i.e. a prima facie stronger patent), then there may be an advantage in requesting examination on or after April 15, 2013, to take advantage of the more rigorous examination procedure after that date.
Article Published June 22nd, 2012
