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Should you keep your invention confidential after filing a patent application?
How safe is it to divulge any information about your invention or to even commercialise it as soon as a patent application has been filed?
Compared with many other countries, a patent search in Australia is relatively straightforward because IP Australia offers a sophisticated patent database and patent search system to the general public – called AusPat. AusPat covers Australian patent records right back to 1904.
Australian patent searches can be carried out by patent number, applicant name, inventor name and many other more sophisticated methodologies. Generally speaking, if you need to find a patent or patent application on the basis of a name, it is best to have an Australian patent attorney carry out your Australian patent search because a few strategies need to be applied to identify the right entity and not miss relevant search results.
If you are trying to determine whether your new idea is patentable in Australia, ironically, an Australian patent search is probably not going to give you the correct answer. The reason for this is that for a new idea to be patentable, it must be novel in light of all published documents worldwide, and not just in Australia. For information on worldwide novelty searches, please click here.
