The plausibility threshold for patent specifications remains low in Australia

The requirement that a patent specification sufficiently enables the subject matter of the claims is particularly relevant to pharmaceutical inventions and can be a hurdle for innovators even if a claimed invention is deemed novel and inventive. In the absence of any prior art, the claimed invention can fail the enablement requirement if it is not plausible at the date of filing that the invention would work across the full scope of the claims in the eyes of a person skilled in the art. As reported previously, the majority of the UK Supreme Court disagreed with the principle that plausibility is a "low, threshold test" and required that the patent specification itself provides a reasonable basis for the scope of the claims. However, a recent decision of the Patent Office in Gary B Cox v MacroGenics, Inc. [2019] APO 13 (MacroGenics) suggests that plausibility is still a low threshold in Australia, and that the common general knowledge can be drawn upon to enable the