The Australian Patents Act was amended in 2013 to “raise the bar” on the sufficiency of disclosure and support obligations. Statutory language was adopted from the EPC to harmonise Australia’s law with that of major patent jurisdictions (the UK in particular). This webinar will cover developments since 2013 as the Australian patent office and, more recently, the Courts have applied the new legislation.

Despite the attempted harmonisation, disclosure related grounds of invalidity including an obligation to disclose the best method of performing the invention and a requirement that the claimed invention be useful, may be less familiar to overseas applicants. This webinar will also review the current landscape of these important areas of Australian patent law and highlight some best practices and pitfalls that overseas applicants should consider.