為了與世界其他大部分的專利制度更為協調，澳洲專利法近期作了一些修正，其「智慧財產權法修正案2012」 (Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Act 2012)，亦稱「提升智慧財產權法案」 (the Raising the Bar Act) 已於2013年4月15日正式生效。此澳洲專利法對於澳洲專利制度的改變，基本上是複製美國發明法(America Invents Act)於美國專利制度的改變。其中一個很好的例子就是，當評估創新步驟的新穎性與進步性時，新法去除了舊專利法關於先前技術的地理區域範圍及其他相對限制。  

新法另外一個改變是引進了一項新的實用性需求，以避免投機性的推測具有可專利性，以及去除了臨時申請案的較低揭露標準。現在所有申請案的說明書，都需要提供足夠的技術資訊，以使該案請求項所述專利範圍同業皆能據以實施，如此，新法的技術揭露標準就與其他國家的說明書揭露要求一致。在新法施行後，申請人就不能再以推測的數據或是不完全的技術揭露內容來確保其優先權日得到認可。新法將臨時申請案的發明內容揭露標準與一般申請案達成一致，而關於優先權文件的技術內容揭露要求部分，澳洲也採用了與大部分其他國家相同的標準。

伴隨專利法法規的變動，澳洲專利之申請程序與已發證專利之執行與舉發等，將會變得與其他大多數國家的專利制度更為一致。針對法案修正的結果，澳洲專利局指出於4月15日之後提出實審需求之申請案，將會面對更高的可專利性審查標準。相對的，如果申請人希望他們的申請案能以舊的澳洲專利法與審查基準來處理，則需要在4月14日前提出申請。

值得注意的是，於2013年初，美國及澳洲都同樣頒布了各自專利法規的改革，以與其他國家的專利制度更為一致。而其他採用比較傳統的先申請主義（First-to file，FTF）之國家，例如歐洲各國，會不會對其專利法規作出類似的改變，以迎合USPTO 及澳洲專利局所作的努力呢？歐洲目前正在與相關機構進行一系列專利相關法律議題的調研，例如引進優惠期制度，並將會於2013年底前報告他們的調研結果。因此我們仍須耐心等待，始能看到類似改革透過EPC在歐洲各國發酵。

Changes in Australian Patent Law Indicate Better Harmonization Between Patent Systems Around the World
Stefano John    NAIP  Education & Training Group / European Patent Attorney

Australian patent Law is being changed to harmonize itself with most other jurisdictions. The Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Act 2012 (the Raising the Bar Act) came into effect on 15th April 2013. The main changes taking place in Australia will mirror changes taking place in the US under the America Invents Act. One such example is the removal of geographical and other relative limitations which applied to prior art when assessing inventive step under the old patent Law.

Another change is the introduction of a new utility requirement to avoid speculative speculations together with removal of a lower standard in disclosure for provisional applications. The description in the application must now provide sufficient information to make the invention across the full width of the claims, thus also aligning the enabling disclosure requirements to other countries. Under the new act, the Applicant cannot secure a priority date based on a speculative or incomplete disclosure. This is the same as the disclosure standard in a provisional application and aligns Australian standards for disclosure in priority documents with most other jurisdictions.

Together with changes to the patent act regulations, the prosecution of patent applications and the rights deriving from granted patents will be changed to be more in line with most other jurisdictions. As a result of the amendments, the Australian Patent Office states that higher standards of patentability will apply to applications for which the examination request is filed on or after 15 April. Accordingly, applicants who may wish their applications to be dealt with under the old Australian patent Law need to consider requesting examination (or, if necessary, bringing forward national phase entry and requesting examination) no later than 14 April.

It is interesting to note that both the US and Australia have already enacted changes in their patent law to take place at the start of 2013 to align themselves with other jurisdictions. Could there be an equal effort by the more traditional first-to-file systems, such as EPC countries, to meet this effort by the USPTO and Australian Patent Office? The EPO is currently consulting on a set of substantive law issues, such as introducing a grace period, with major stakeholders and will report on their consultation in 2013, so we will have to wait a while yet at least before any such changes occur in Europe through the EPC.

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