On 25 July 2019, the Intellectual Property Laws
Amendment (Productivity Commission Response Part 2 and Other
Measures) Bill 2019 (Bill) was introduced into Federal Parliament.
The Bill proposes amendments to the Patents Act 1990 (Cth)
(Patents Act) that would affect the way governments can use
inventions owned by third parties, particularly in
emergencies.
The 'Crown use' provisions in the Patents Act allow a
Commonwealth, State or Territory government authority to exploit a
patented invention without the patent holder's authorisation,
where this is necessary for the authority to properly provide
services.
Under the current law, it is unclear exactly which kinds of
authorities and services the provisions cover. This is largely
because there have been only two reported cases in which Crown use
has been contested in court, and only one of these considered the
current provisions – Stack v Brisbane City Council
(1995) 59 FCR 71 (Stack). (The other case
dates back to
