Australia

Types of protection

Standard patent: A standard patent offers long-term protection with a term of 20 years, and up to 25 years for pharmaceutical substances. The approval process can take from six months to several years.

Innovation patent: An innovation patent protects inventions with a short market life that may be superseded by newer inventions. Innovation patents have a lower threshold for inventiveness, a maximum term of 8 years, faster approval process and lower fees.

Provisional patent: A provisional patent can act as a placeholder for the full patent application which is filed at a later date and gives you time to decide if your invention is worth the time, money and effort required for a full patent.1

Convention and treaty membership

Australia became a member of the Patent Cooperation Treaty in 1980, and is a signatory of numerous treaties and conventions including, but not limited to the following:

  • Asia-Pacific cooperation
  • Bilateral and plurilateral trade agreements
  • PCT cooperation with other IP offices
  • Multilateral IP treaties – working with WIPO
  • Vancouver group
  • Regional Patent Examiner Training Program (RPET)
  • Australia-New Zealand Single Economic Market
  • Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH)
  • IP Australia-European Patent Office Patent Prosecution Highway (IP Australia-EPO PPH)2

International, National and Regional applications

For information regarding how to file international, regional or national patent applications in each country, we welcome you to contact us.

_____________________________

1 https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/patents

2 https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/about-us/global-engagement