On 30 May 2013, the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment
Bill 2013 was introduced into Parliament. The Bill proposes
amendments based on the Productivity Commission's 2013
Report into Compulsory Licensing of Patents, which was
released on 27 May 2013.
Of particular interest to agencies are the proposed changes to
the Crown use provisions.
What's wrong with the current Crown use provisions?
The Patents Act 1990 permits the Commonwealth or a
state to access patented inventions for the services of the
Commonwealth or the State, without infringing the patent.
The Productivity Commission noted two main issues with the
current Crown use provisions:
- the uncertainty of who is the Crown and what constitutes
"for the services of the Commonwealth or the State",
and
