New Zealand Legislative Changes Create "Space" For A Second-Tier Patent System

New Zealand's Patents Bill 2008 is presently awaiting its second Parliamentary reading and is expected to come into effect from late 2012. Two changes that will surely be effected under the new Act will be a shift from local to absolute novelty and an extension of Patent Office ("IPONZ") examination criteria to include an assessment of inventive step. In theory, the balance of the "patent bargain" will be shifted in favour of the government – and the patentability threshold lifted as a result.

One consequence of "raising the bar" on patentability in New Zealand is that many applications that would have been eligible for patent protection under the old legislation are likely to be denied under the new Act. This, in turn raises the question as to whether low-level applications denied the full benefit of Letters Patent are nonetheless worthy of some measure of protection – for instance, by way of an "Innovation patent" system similar to that of Australia.