‘Innovative patents’ a tool of big business: IP Australia
IP Australia has said that the country’s system of innovative patents is “used by large firms as a strategic tool to stifle competition”.
The comments come as the Australian government is set to phase out the innovative patent, which provides “fast protection” lasting up to eight years from the filing date of the application.
The decision to abolish the innovative patent has sparked concern that it will disadvantage small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) seeking to access IP services and enforce their rights.
Last week, WIPR reported that Australia’s Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman had warned against the move.
In a statement, Kate Carnell said that “it would be a mistake to phase out the innovation patent system without any replacement”.
Australia’s IP registry office has now hit back at the criticism, arguing that the system benefits big business rather than local SMEs.
“In 2017 big business and foreign applicants obtained almost four times the number of enforceable innovation patents than SMEs,” IP Australia said in a statement.
According to IP Australia, larger corporations can use the system to create so-called “patent thickets”, whereby a firm “files a series of innovation patents surrounding an SME’s product”.
IP Australia added that the government would be rolling out new services tailored towards SMEs to replace the innovative patent.
“SMEs will continue to have access to IP Australia’s fast track examination pathway on request, which means SMEs who want a fast patent can get a report within eight weeks, and as fast as the current innovation patent,” the statement said.
The office also committed to redeveloping its web presence to make it more accessible to SMEs, as well as an outreach programme aimed at educating SMEs on accessing IP services.
Earlier this month, the Australian Senate committee on economics legislation endorsed the bill providing for the abolition of the innovative patent.
The patent requires the applicant to demonstrate an “innovative step”, which is a lower bar than the “inventive step” required by a standard patent.
The recommendation to abolish the system came from the Australian government’s Productivity Commission, which said in 2016 that the country had “lost its way on IP policy”.
The commission said that the innovative patent was part of a system which was enabling the “proliferation of low-quality patents”.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.
Today's top stories:
AIPPI World Congress 2019 opens in London
Gigi Hadid again sued over Instagram repost
University of Minnesota petitions SCOTUS to review IPR immunity
