Certain changes prescribed by the Intellectual Property Laws
Amendment (Raising the Bar) Act 2012 (http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2012A00035)
are due to come onto effect on 15 April 2013. In addition to the
widely-publicised tightening of patentability standards and patent
examination procedures, a notable change will be the streamlining
of patent opposition procedures and, of particular note, the
introduction of regulations to make it more difficult to secure
extensions of time for filing evidence.
A patent opposition is a cost-effective tool by which the
validity of a standard patent application or an innovation patent
may be challenged at the Patent Office (compared to costly
litigation in the Federal Court). Currently, a Notice of Opposition
to a standard patent application must be filed within 3 months of
the publication a Notice of Acceptance of the application. A
statement of grounds and particulars must be filed within three
months of the filing date of the
