Important Change to the Requirement to Provide Search Results to the IPO

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At very short notice the Patents Regulations in Australia have been amended to remove the requirement to provide search results for most pending Australian patent applications (Patents Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 1)). This amendment came into effect on 22 October 2007.

This amendment will simplify the prosecution of Australian patent applications. As a result of this amendment, it is no longer necessary to provide search results for all standard patent applications which have not been accepted for grant or which were advertised as accepted for grant on or after 22 July 2007.

The requirement to provide search results has not been removed entirely and the penalty for not providing search results will continue to apply to granted standard patents and standard patent applications which were advertised as accepted before 22 July 2007 for which search results were not filed by the due date. Accordingly, if you become aware that search results were not filed by the due date for a granted patent or an application which was advertised as accepted before 22 July 2007, please let us know so that we can discuss with you whether it is possible to obtain an extension of time to late file the search results.

As you may recall, the penalty for not providing search results is that the patentee cannot, after the grant of the patent, amend the patent to distinguish the claims from search results which should have been provided to the Australian Patent Office.

Similar amendments have also been made to the requirement to provide search results for innovation patents.

For more information contact ghsyd@griffithhack.com.au

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