The Australian enablement requirement was introduced with the
IP Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Act 2012 that came
into effect on 15 April 2013. However, some seven years later there
is still little jurisprudence on Australian support requirements.
The Raising the Bar amendments on this issue were meant to
bring Australian law in line with European law, and this does
appear to be the direction in which IP Australia and the courts are
heading. The Australian Patent Office has looked to Europe, and
particularly the UK, for a framework with which to apply Australian
enablement requirements (which are also commonly referred to as
"sufficiency requirements").
This article looks at Australian Patent Office decisions over
the past couple of years and the application of a plausibility test
to ostensibly prevent speculative claiming under Australian
enablement requirements.
