IP Australia's Patent Office has introduced an online
facility that now gives patent applicants and owners an easy and
secure system for the electronic filing of patent applications and
the ongoing management of those applications and any granted
patents.
Applicants (or their patent attorneys) can now apply online
for:
- a provisional application for a patent;
- a standard patent application; and
- an innovation patent application.
Electronic filing is cheaper than lodging a paper application.
One important difference to note, however, is that it is necessary
to make a declaration about entitlement at the time of filing. This
means that it is necessary for an applicant to provide written
confirmation prior to filing electronically that the applicant has
entitlement from the inventor and, if the applicant is not the
applicant of the priority application, that entitlement has been
obtained from the applicant of the priority application. Without
this
