Patents legislation throughout the world variously provides that one party shall not "exploit" another’s patented invention.
The so-called Experimental Use Exception to patent infringement (EUE) is a balance between at once providing strong and exclusive rights to a patentee, while at the same time stimulating innovation, research and development. Naturally, the differing social, political and economic climate of different countries necessitates a unique "line in the sand" as to precisely where "experimentation" ends and "exploitation" begins.
Neither Australia nor New Zealand presently includes statutory EUE provisions within their respective patent laws.
The issue came to prominence in 2003 when an Australian biotechnology company sought to enforce patents in each jurisdiction relating to non-coding ("junk") DNA mapping by attempting to enter into a proprietary licensing agreement with any entity undertaking related genetic research. Many researchers appeared to be using the
