New evidence in public interest in patent opposition procedure

Pre-Grant Opposition

Australian patent law provides a relatively low-cost (pre-grant) procedure to oppose grant of a patent, on various grounds, by filing a Notice of Opposition within 3-months of the date of publication of acceptance. Once initiated, an opposition procedure is conducted before the Australian Patent Office.

Evidence is Pivotal

Importantly, Australia's patent opposition procedure entails an evidentiary phase during which expert evidence is prepared and submitted by the opponent and the patent applicant. That evidence may comprise declarations by one or more experts setting out their opinions on, amongst other things, the disclosure of prior art references and the scope of the claims of the patent specification of the opposed application.