Patent Procedure

Australian Patent Procedure

To be eligible for patent protection, an invention must be new (novel) and contain an inventive step. Because your invention must be new to obtain a patent in Australia, you must not publish or disclose the details of your invention to anyone before you have applied for a patent. For an invention to be considered patentable, it must not be an obvious improvement to a person with an average knowledge of the field. Don’t assume that your invention is obvious just because it was obvious to you at the time or with hindsight.

There are two general categories of patents in Australia, which are a Standard Patent, and an Innovation Patent.

The level of inventiveness required for an Innovation Patent is lower than a Standard Patent but both categories require that the Innovation or Invention be “new” and not have been commercially exploited before a Patent Application has been filed.

There are exceptions in some overseas countries to this, for instance, in the United States there is a one year grace period but otherwise it is very important not to have previously commercially exploited or shown publicly the Innovation or Invention prior to a Patent Application having been filed in Australia.

The test for patentability for both a Standard Patent and an Innovation Patent is complex and very often patents can be obtained where an expert may consider the invention level to be very small.

Australian national phase entry

Australian national phase applications, from a PCT application, have to be filed by 31 months from the earliest claimed priority date. All that we require is the PCT number and if the applications was not filed in English then we will need an English translation as well as a signed verification of translation form. A simple copy is all that is required, which can be sent through by email to us.