In Australia, there are different options to challenge the
validity of a patent application or granted patent. This can
be of significant interest from a freedom to operate perspective
when a business is planning to launch or commercialise a product or
process, regardless of whether the product or process is covered by
its own intellectual property.
>Challenging a patent application or patent
(i)
Third party submissions
A patent application can be challenged pre-acceptance (prior to
being allowed by the examiner during prosecution) by filing third
party submissions. Any party may file third party submissions
up to three months following the date of advertised acceptance of a
patent application in Australia. The Notice is filed with any
documents relevant to the assertion that the invention claimed is
not novel and/or does not involve an inventive step.
