The past few years have presented a number of challenges to
applicants of business method and software patents in Australia.
Shelston IP has been taking a special interest in developments,
given our involvement in an upcoming appeal of Research
Affiliates, the first Federal Court proceedings brought to
challenge restrictive patentability thresholds of the Australian
Patent Office.
Since 2010, the Australian Patent Office has embarked on
something of a crusade against software and business method
patents. A string of Patent Office decisions made it extremely
challenging to obtain protection for inventions where the
technology was perceived as being "business related" (as
opposed to being traditionally scientific in nature). A preliminary
decision in Research Affiliates(currently under appeal),
did not provide much in the way of substantive judicial reasoning.
However, a recent Federal Court decision in RPL Central Pty Ltd
v Commissioner of Patents [2013] FCA 871 has
