On 15 April 2013, the Intellectual Property Legislation Amendment (Raising the Bar) Regulation 2013 (No 1) commenced with much fanfare. The RTB regulations made significant changes in relation to patent oppositions, principally with the aim of resolving proceedings faster. The reforms recognised that under the previous regime, opposition proceedings often took several (and sometimes many) …
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The Albanese Government’s 2023-24 Budget handed down last night provided a funding boost for startups as part of the Government’s push to invest in key strategic industries. Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers, recognising Australia’s opportunity for growth and prosperity in the global shift to clean energy, announced a new $392.4 million Industry Growth Program (a better …
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The Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Act 2012 made two changes to the inventive step test in Australia. The first was to remove the geographical limitation to the scope of common general knowledge. The second was to remove the requirement that a prior art document be one that would have been “ascertained, understood and …
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Amongst the areas that the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Act 2012 intended to address was an issue that arose from the wording of section 41 of the Trade Marks Act 1995 as originally drafted. This issue was brought to light in the decision of Branson J in Blount Inc v Registrar of Trade …
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Happy World IP Day! World Intellectual Property Day is celebrated every year on 26 April – the day on which the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Convention came into force in 1970 – and it is a day for increasing general awareness and understanding of IP. This year’s theme is Women and IP: Accelerating Innovation …
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The Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Act 2012 had an impact extending beyond the acquisition of patent and trade mark rights. Outside the patent attorney profession, few realised that the RTB Act included a short provision allowing patent attorneys to incorporate. Our lawmakers are unlikely to have suspected how profound this seemingly innocuous change …
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Some of the most significant changes to the requirements for a valid patent brought about by the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Act 2012 have been in the area of support and disclosure. A key rationale for the grant of patent rights has always been that in return for a limited monopoly, the …
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Continuing our deep dive into the influence of the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Act 2012, we now look at the changes made to Provisional Applications and the conflicting result that the Act had on a system originally aimed at saving time and cost to applicants. Before filing a complete patent application, an …
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The Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Act 2012 was intended to address six key areas, one of which was to raise the quality of granted patents. The aim of raising patent quality was to ensure that patents granted in Australia were more closely aligned with international standards and with those granted by our …
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Some may remember a time when business methods were patentable subject matter, and at first glance it seems that the increasingly popular AI, ChatGPT, would like us to return to these halcyon days. When pushed, however, ChatGPT does recommend that you seek the professional advice of a patent attorney. ChatGPT is a chatbot developed by …
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