 For some years there has been an obligation on applicants for Australian patents to lodge certain official search results with the Patent Office.
On 17 October, 2007, the Patents Amendment Regulations 2007 (No 1) removed that obligation in respect to all future (after 22 October) and many pending applications, as follows:
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Search results are no longer required for
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- Applications on which examination was requested on or after 22 April 2007, or
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- Applications which were advertised as accepted for patent grant on or after 22 July 2007, or
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- Applications lodged on or after 22 October 2007
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Search results are still required to be lodged where
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- Search results were completed before 22 April 2007, and
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- Examination was requested before 22 April 2007, and
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- The application was advertised as accepted for patent grant before 22 July 2007
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Where the continuing obligation applies, it remains necessary to inform the Patent Office of the results of any official search results undertaken to assess the patentability of the invention disclosed in the application.
For patents granted before 22 April 2007, the continuing obligation only extends to search results completed before the date on which the patent was granted.
There are ongoing provisions for late lodgement of search results outside the prescribed time frames.
Non compliance with the obligation may continue to affect the allowance of any amendments proposed to a patent granted on the application.
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