IP Australia is the government agency for the protection of intellectual property rights in Australia. A patent is granted in Australia for any device, substance, method or process that is new, inventive, and useful. A patent is legally enforceable and gives the owner exclusive rights to commercially use the invention during the period of patent protection.
IP Australia grants two types of patents in Australia:
- The standard patent
- The innovation patent
A standard patent gives protection for 20 years from the date of the filing of application. The invention claimed in a standard patent must be new, involve an inventive step and be able to be made or used in an industry. Invention must differ in some way from existing technology. IP Australia conducts examination of a patent application and if there is any issue an Examiner’s Letter is issued in this respect.
Innovation patent can be applied to protect an invention with a short market life that might be superseded by newer innovations, such as computer-based inventions. An innovation patent lasts up to eight years and is designed to protect inventions that do not meet the inventive threshold required for standard patents. It is a relatively quick and inexpensive way to obtain protection for your new device, substance, method or process.
The innovation patent can be acquired by the applicant through examination request and after a complete examination of the patent by the office or without examination. If it is requested without examination it may be approved within a month however the patent is enforceable if it is acquired through examination.
An Australian patent provides protection only within Australia. To obtain similar protection in other countries you may file application in each such country in which you want to register the patent or file PCT application for international protection. Whichever option you choose, you will still end up with separate patent applications in each county. The PCT is simply a method of facilitating the filing of a patent application in a number of countries simultaneously, however patent rights are granted by national or regional patent offices.
An Australian provisional application can act as a priority document for a PCT application if the PCT application is submitted within 12 months of the submission of the provisional application.
Intellectual property Logium Provides following services for the protection of patent in Australia:
- Patent Search
- Applying and filing Provisional patent
- Applying and Filing Complete Patent
- Responding to Patent Examination
- International Patent Applications
- Patent Maintenance
- Patent Opposition
- Patent Infringement
