Australian patent law is law governing the granting of a temporary monopoly on the use of an invention, in exchange for the publication and free use of the invention after a certain time. The primary piece of legislation is the Patents Act 1990. Patents are administered by the Commonwealth Government agency

IP Australia IP Australia is an agency of the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. IP Australia administers intellectual property rights and legislation relating to patents, trade marks, registered designs and plant breeder's rights in Australia. ...

. Australia is a member state of the

World Intellectual Property Organization The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; french: link=no, Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI)) is one of the list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, 15 specialized agencies of the United Nation ...

(WIPO), and compliant with

Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It establishes minimum standards for the regulation by nat ...

(TRIPS). This makes Australian patent law broadly comparable with

patent law A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

in other major countries.

Key features

Australia has two kinds of patent available: * a standard patent with a

term Term may refer to: * Terminology, or term, a noun or compound word used in a specific context, in particular: **Technical term, part of the specialized vocabulary of a particular field, specifically: ***Scientific terminology, terms used by scient ...

of 20 years * an innovation patent, with a lower threshold for

inventiveness The inventive step and non-obviousness reflect a general patentability requirement present in most patent laws, according to which an invention should be sufficiently inventive—i.e., non-obvious—in order to be patented. In other words, " he ...

, and a maximum term of 8 years. Innovation patents have a faster approval process and lower fees. Australia operates a

first to file First to file (FTF) and first to invent (FTI) are legal concepts that define who has the right to the grant of a patent for an invention. The first-to-file system is used in all countries. There is an important difference between the strict nat ...

system, like much of the rest of the world.

Australian patent databases

The AusPat Patent database is the official Australian patents database operated by the Australian Intellectual Property Office. AusPat records patents dating back to 1904.

History

Pre-Federation

The system of granting patents in the six Australian colonies was based upon British law, and can be traced back to the English Statute of Monopolies of 1623. This was enacted in 1624. Prior to the colonies enacting their own legislation in the mid-19th century and forming their own patent offices, inventors applied to England for patent registration and protection. Vicpatent1033

When legislatures were established in the Australian colonies, people could apply (petition the parliament) for a patent to be granted by the governor of the colony, by way of a

private bill Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single p ...

. The first of these was South Australian Private Act No.1 of 1848, granted to Andrew John Murray of Adelaide for "An improved windlass", on 20 June 1848, for a period of 10 years. A further three private acts were granted in South Australia; and several were granted in Western Australia. The first general patent act in Australia was introduced into New South Wales in 1852 and came into force on 10 January 1854. Victoria proclaimed its first Patent Act in 1854, with the length of the grant being for 14 years.

Post-Federation

Section 51(xviii) of the

Constitution of Australia The Constitution of Australia (or Australian Constitution) is a written constitution, constitutional document that is Constitution, supreme law in Australia. It establishes Australia as a Federation of Australia, federation under a constitutio ...

gave the new

federal parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-gen ...

the right to legislate with regard to "copyrights, patents of invention and designs, and trade marks". The first federal legislation dealing with patents was the ''Patents Act 1903'', passed by the first Deakin Government. The act transferred the administration of the state patents acts to the federal government with effect from 1 June 1904, and established the Australian Patent Office (APO). The first patent was filed with the office on 13 February 1904. The APO is the direct predecessor of IP Australia, the current Australian government agency responsible for patents. The original 1903 act has been replaced on two occasions – the

Menzies Government Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...

's ''Patents Act 1952'' and the Hawke Government's ''Patents Act 1990''.

References