Australia's second-tier innovation patent system is
presently on death row and the Government – judge, jury and
executioner – is seeking a quick kill. With all appeal
avenues seemingly now exhausted, we ask the question – albeit
somewhat academically, as to whether it necessarily has to die
– or whether it could be rehabilitated. In other words,
whether the punishment fits the crime...
Introduction
Around two years ago, the Australian Federal Government released
its response to the Productivity Commission's inquiry into
intellectual property arrangements in Australia. One of the
headline features of the response was that the Government had
agreed to phase out the innovation patent system. Whereas there
appears to be a general acceptance throughout Australia's IP
community that the innovation patent system may be somewhat
imperfect, it did not necessarily follow that it was failing to
meet its stated objectives – namely, to foster innovation
amongst local SMEs.
