Patent oppositions in Australia: The facts

Patent opposition in Australia is an administrative process within the Patent Office, whereby third parties, such as competitors, suppliers, or customers of the patentee, raise arguments and provide evidence against the validity of a patent that has been accepted, but not yet granted. As such, it can potentially play an important role in maintaining the quality of the patent register. As a number of economists and legal scholars have pointed out, it is impossible for patent offices to find all the prior art relevant to a patent, particularly where that prior art lies outside the patent literature. Competitors and other outsiders, however, are likely to have information relevant to the validity of the patent, because they are active in the technology. If these 'outsiders' can be encouraged to bring that information to the attention of the Patent Office, the examiners will be in a better position to make the right decisions about granting patents. At the same time, there are potential benefits, especially for smaller businesses, to having a low cost mechanism for challenging the validity of patent applications, particularly in an era where increasing burdens on patent offices are raising questions about the quality of the patents being granted