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ARTICLE · 27 JULY 2011

New Zealand and Australia Plan for Single Examination in 2014

inovia LLC
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Despite the submissions following the earlier discussion paper, IP Australia and IPONZ have agreed on a three-year implementation plan regarding the way patent applications are processed and examined.

AustraliaIntellectual Property
Cara DiSisto
Cara DiSisto

Ian Cockburn, New Zealand and Australian Patent Attorney at PIPERS, recently informed us of some news pertaining to New Zealand and Australian patent law:

Despite the submissions following the earlier discussion paper, IP Australia and IPONZ have agreed on a three-year implementation plan regarding the way patent applications are processed and examined. The goal is to save customers time and money in providing strong patent protection.

The plan covers three stages:

Stage 1: Work Sharing

This stage seeks to improve the efficiency and quality of examination across both countries. The work sharing model is an essential step towards single examination and allows Australian and New Zealand patent examiners to rely on each other's work. This will include examiner's reports and searches for prior art. However, actual work sharing will not occur until the passing of New Zealand's new patents legislation (expected in early 2012).

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