The Exposure Draft of New Zealand's
long-awaited Patents Amendment Bill was released
on 18 March 2025, with public submissions due by 1 April 2025. First flagged in 2018, and
following several years of inactivity, the condensed timeframe for
public consultation would indicate that this is now a Government
priority.
The Bill seeks to remedy New Zealand's patent
"divisional problem". This is explained in detail below,
but in a nutshell occurs due to a plurality of essential
incompatibilities between divisional practice under the
"old" Patents Act 1953 and "new"
Patents Act 2013.
The "problem", per se, arises because the Transitional
Provisions tied to the new Act mean that a divisional
filed from an old Act case is itself an old Act
case, despite the associated legislation having ceased more than a
decade ago. This creates legislative and procedural challenges for
applicants, attorneys and IPONZ, alike – and a
"fix" has long been sought.
