Patent Law Changes May Boost Generics Industry

Gareth Dixon, Patent Attorney and Jacinta Flattery-O’Brien, Partner

The Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill 2006 recently passed, unamended, through Australia’s Federal Parliament. The Bill offers potential benefits to Australia’s generic pharmaceutical sector by permitting enhanced springboarding activities in relation to drug patents.

Springboarding allows activities that would otherwise be an infringement of a patent to be carried out for the purpose of obtaining regulatory approval. Generic manufacturers may thereby obtain marketing approval prior to patent expiry for immediate entry onto the market at the end of the patent term. Springboarding is justified on the basis that obtaining regulatory approval is often a protracted process and it is argued that restricting such activities until after the patent expires provides an unjustified de facto extension of patent term.