An ongoing debate has been played out in the media and court systems worldwide over the past 10 years or more, regarding the issue of patent protection for software applications. Many commentators have loudly decried, following the decision of a prominent court case (e.g. the Alice case in the United States) or an act of …
Don’t destroy the novelty of your invention As anyone who has been through the patenting process will tell you, it is really important to maintain the confidentiality of your invention, at least until you have a priority date for your patent application. This is because you can ‘destroy the novelty’ of your invention if you …
Who can apply for a patent? Anyone can apply for a patent – however, a patent can only be granted to the inventor, or to someone who has acquired the rights to the invention from the inventor. This may be because the inventor has chosen to assign those rights, or because they were required by contract to …
In this article, we explain the requirements for patentability, as well as the patent process in simple, easy to understand language. Patentability In order to understand the requirements for patentability, it helps to understand the reasoning behind the patent system. If at all possible, governments prefer not to grant patents, since they do reduce consumer …
As a fundamental value driver in early stage technology businesses, entrepreneur are sensibly reluctant to reduce the scope of their IP coverage due to financial constraints. With the cost of patenting being directly proportional to the scope of geographical patent coverage, what’s the way out of this Catch 22? Here are 3 ways to push …
Not only does Baxter IP meet inventors every day but Warren Chandler of Baxter IP also provides discussion of patent, design and trade mark matters to the Inventors Association of Australia (Victoria division) in some of their monthly association meetings. One such meeting occurred this month. At the recent meeting of the IAA, Warren was …
The golden rule is never disclose without protection. Many inventors are often surprised that any disclosure of an invention, even by themselves, can invalidate a subsequently filed patent application. However, in certain circumstances, it may be possible to rely on the grace period provisions in Australia. In a nutshell, the grace period provisions in Australia …
During commercialisation, inventors, start-ups and the like often seek investment by leveraging off their intellectual property. However, whereas investment funding is often required during the early stage commercialisation, the granting of patent rights mainly happened a few years down the track, the conundrum being that investors often times don’t invest until they are satisfied as …
By Baxter IP, as presented at the Legal Wise Seminar on 31 May 2012. Recently is has become difficult if not impossible to patent “business methods” in Australia. Such is evident from the large number of “business method” patent applications being refused by the Examiners and Delegates at IP Australia. This article is addressed to …
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