IPA patent 8.5.2-prior-art-base — IP Australia Patent Manual of Practice and Procedure – 8.5.2 Prior Art Base

Also in this Chapter: 8.5.1 The Statutory Basis for Inventive Step ​​​​​​​ 8.5.3 Assessing Inventive Step in Examination 8.5.4 Common General Knowledge 8.5.5 Determining the Problem 8.5.6 Identifying the Person Skilled in the Art 8.5.7 Could the PSA have Ascertained, Understood, Regard as Relevant and Combined the Prior Art Information Key Legislation: Patents Act: s45(1A) Examination s48(1A) (Superseded) Related Chapters: 2.4.4.1 Prior Art Information The prior art base for inventive step is a subset of the prior art base for novelty (see 2.4.4.1 Prior Art Information ). It includes all prior art forming the prior art base for novelty, except for Australian patent documents which can only be used for an objection of lack of novelty on a "whole of contents" basis. While the prior art base for both novelty and inventive step includes information made publicly available through doing an act (whether in or out of the patent area), examiners are precluded from using such information in their assessment of novelty and inventive step (sec 45(1A) and sec 48(1A)).