‘Raising the Bar’ Amendments now law

Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Act 2012

The Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Act 2012 received the Governor General’s assent on 15 April 2012 and is now part of Australia’s intellectual property law.

Most provisions in the Act will come into effect on 15 April 2013 but exemptions for researchers and regulatory use took immediate effect from 15 April 2012.

The research exemptions are intended to allow people to conduct genuine scientific research without fear of infringing patents. IP Australia summarises the exemptions as follows:

“To provide clarity for researchers, an inclusive list of activities that are deemed to be experimental has been included in section 119C of the Patents Act 1990. The following activities are exempt:

* determining the properties of the invention
* determining the scope of a patent claim relating to the invention
* improving or modifying the invention
* determining the validity of the patent or of a patent claim relating to the invention
* determining whether the patent for the invention would be, or has been, infringed by the doing of an act.

This list is not intended to be exhaustive. A court may find other activities also fall within the meaning of ‘experimental’.”

Useful background:

* Progress of the Bill through Parliament

* Summary of the changes from firm Davies Collison Cave. See also their advice to practitioners.

* Summary of the changes from firm DibbsBarker

* Summary of the changes from firm Middletons

* Summary of the changes from firm Shelston IP

* Summary of the changes from firm Sprusons

* Summary of the changes regarding trademarks from firm Clayton Utz

* Summary of the changes from firm King & Wood Mallesons