IPA patent 5.6.1.4-balance-of-probabilities-standard — IP Australia Patent Manual of Practice and Procedure – 5.6.1.4 Balance of Probabilities Standard

Also in this Chapter: 5.6.1.1 Priority Dates and Filing Dates 5.6.1.2 Effect of Publication 5.6.1.3 Definitions (Invention, Alleged Invention, Meaning of a Document etc.) 5.6.1.5 Application of the Balance of Probabilities in Examination . Key Legislation: Patents Act: s49 Acceptance of patent request: standard patent Patent Regulations: reg 10.5 Commissioner to grant leave to amend Related Chapters: 5.6.5 Novelty, Whole of Contents, and Secret Use 5.6.6 Inventive Step 5.6.7 Full Disclosure, Sufficiency, Clarity, Support and Usefulness (s40) 5.6.8 Patent Eligible Subject Matter (Manner of Manufacture) ​​​​​​​Balance of Probabilities The “balance of probabilities” standard applies to: all grounds relevant to examination; decisions the Commissioner makes relating to the grant, refusal or revocation of standard patents or patent applications and certification or revocation of innovation patents; and proposed amendments that applicants may make to a patent application or patent to overcome grounds of objection. Subregulation 10.5(1)(b) , as amended by the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Regulation 2013 (No.1) , requires the Commissioner be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the proposed amendments would remove all lawful grounds of objection to the patent request and complete specification. ​​​​​​​ Where an examiner identifies an issue during examination, this needs to be raised with the applicant in the examination report. The applicant bears the onus of providing information sufficient to satisfy the examiner that the issue has been resolved.