IPA patent volume-5-national — IP Australia Patent Manual of Practice and Procedure – Volume 5. National

Table of Contents 5.1 Proce ​​​​​​​ dures 5.1.1 Re-Examination 5.1.2 Section 104 Amendments 5.2 Understanding Legislation 5.2.1 Modern Australian Law 5.2.2 Working with case law 5.2.3 Working with statute 5.2.4 Practical guide to interpreting legislation 5.3 Formalities and forms 5.3.1 Formalities Checking 5.3.1.1 Formalities Required and Assessed at Filing 5.3.1.2 Credible Address for Service 5.3.1.3 Formalities Required and Assessed During Examination 5.3.2 Formal requirements of the Specification 5.3.2.1 Title of the Application 5.3.2.2 Abstracts​​​​​​​ 5.3.2.3 Requirements for Text, Pagination, Formulas, Equations, Drawings, Graphics, and Photographs 5.3.2.4 Substitute Pages to comply with formalities 5.3.2.5 Requirements for Amino Acid and Nucleotide Sequences 5.3.2.6 Scandalous Matter 5.3.3 Approved Forms (including patent request) 5.3.3.1 General Requirements for Approved Forms 5.3.3.2 Specific Requirements for The Patent Request 5.3.4 Signature Requirements for Forms and Other Documents 5.3.5 Return or Deletion of Document 5.4 Entitlement 5.4.1 Who can file and who can be granted a patent 5.4.2 Statement of entitlement 5.4.2.1 Annex A - Examples of Declarations under Rule 4.17 5.4.3 Inventions Produced by Artificial Intelligence 5.4.4 Annex A - Examples of Legal Persons 5.4.5 Annex B - Examples of Organisations of Uncertain Status as Legal Persons 5.5 Construction of Specifications, Claims, and Claim Types 5.5.1 Purpose of Construction 5.5.2 Considerations Relevant to Construction of the Specification 5.5.2.1 Initial Considerations 5.5.2.2 The Addressee 5.5.2.3 The Role of Common General Knowledge 5.5.2.4 The Invention Described 5.5.3 Rules of Construction for a Specification 5.5.3.1 Words are Given Plain Meaning 5.5.3.2 Read the Specification as a Whole 5.5.3.3 Purposive Construction 5.5.3.4 Dictionary Principle 5.5.3.5 Reject the Absurd 5.5.3.6 Description Construed as a Technical Document 5.5.3.7 Errors, Mistakes, Omissions 5.5.4 Claim Construction and Claim Types 5.5.4.1 Claims are Construed as a Legal Document 5.5.4.2 Presumption Against Redundancy 5.5.4.3 Omnibus Claims 5.5.4.4 Swiss Claims 5.5.4.5 Product by Process Claims 5.5.4.6 Parametric Claims 5.5.4.7 'For Use', 'When Used' and Similar Wording in Claims 5.5.4.8 'Comprises', 'Includes', 'Consists of' and 'Contains' and Similar Wording in Claims 5.5.4.9 Reference Numerals in Claims 5.5.4.10 Relative Terms 5.5.4.11 'Substantially, 'About, 'Generally' 5.5.4.12 Appended Claims 5.6 Examination 5.6.1 Relevant Dates, Definitions, Legal Standards and Other Prescribed Matters (e.g Publication) 5.6.1.1 Priority dates and Filing Dates 5.6.1.2 Effect of Publication and OPI 5.6.1.3 Definitions (Invention, Alleged Invention, Meaning of a Document etc.) 5.6.1.4 Balance of Probabilities Standard 5.6.1.5 Application of the Balance of Probabilities in Examination 5.6.2 Factors to consider before commencing examination 5.6.2.1 Request for Examination 5.6.2.2 Application in a State of Lapse? 5.6.2.3 Extension of Time been Requested (s223 actions) 5.6.2.4 Payment of Fees 5.6.2.5 Translations of Specifications, Article 19 and Article 34 Amendments (Requirements for Certification, Poor Translations) 5.6.2.5.1 Annex A - Verification of Translation Letter 5.6.2.6 Obtaining Priority Documents 5.6.2.7 Excess Claims Fees and Invitation to Pay 5.6.2.8 Report Dispatch, Correction of Report etc. 5.6.2.9 Further Report Considerations 5.6.2.10 Convention applications 5.6.3 The Specification and Claims to Examine 5.6.3.1 Consideration of Amendments Made prior to examination 5.6.3.2 Claims are directed to a Single Invention (Unity) 5.6.3.3 Omnibus claims – References to the Descriptions or Drawings 5.6.3.4 Provisional specifications - Examination 5.6.4 Citations: Prior Art Base and Construction of Prior Art 5.6.4.1 Prior Art - What is Included (Definition From the Act, Publicly Available, Exclusions, Grace Period) 5.6.4.2 Construing a Citation 5.6.4.3 Level of Disclosure Required (Enabling Disclosure, Clear and Unmistakable Directions etc) 5.6.4.4 Single Source of Information, Combination of Documents 5.6.4.5 Third Party Notifications 5.6.4.6 Identifying and Raising Citations 5.6.5 Novelty, Whole of Contents, Grace Periods, Secret Use 5.6.5.1 Determining Novelty 5.6.5.2 Whole of Contents 5.6.5.3 Prior Use, Secret Use and Confidential Information 5.6.5.4 Novelty - Specific Examples 5.6.5.5 Selections 5.6.5.6 Issues Specific to Chemical Compositions 5.6.6 Inventive Step 5.6.6.1 Inventive Step Requirements 5.6.6.2 Information for Assessing Inventive Step 5.6.6.3 Tests for Inventive Step 5.6.6.4 Assessing Inventive Step 5.6.6.5 Indicators of Inventive Step 5.6.6.6 Issues Specific to Chemical Compositions 5.6.7 Full Disclosure, Sufficiency, Clarity, Support and Usefulness (S40 considerations) 5.6.7.1 Claims are Clear and Succinct 5.6.7.2 Clear and Complete Disclosure s40(2)(a) 5.6.7.3 Support for the Claims s40(3) 5.6.7.4 Difference Between ‘Clear and Complete Disclosure’ and ‘Support’ 5.6.7.5 Best Method 5.6.7.6 Complete Disclosure Micro-Organisms and Other Life Forms (Budapest Treaty, Deposit Requirements) 5.6.7.7 Claims define the Invention 5.6.7.8 Annex A - Examples: Subsections 40(2)(a) and 40(3) 5.6.8 Patent Eligible Subject Matter (Manner of Manufacture) 5.6.8.1 General Principles-Assessing Manner of Manufacture 5.6.8.2 Alleged Invention 5.6.8.3 Fine Arts 5.6.8.4 Discoveries, Ideas, Scientific Theories, Schemes and Plans 5.6.8.5 Printed Matter 5.6.8.6 Computer Implemented Inventions, Schemes and Business Methods 5.6.8.7 Games and Gaming Machines 5.6.8.8 Mathematical Algorithms 5.6.8.9 Methods of Testing, Observation and Measurement 5.6.8.10 Mere Working Directions 5.6.8.11 Nucleic Acids and Genetic Information 5.6.8.12 Micro-Organisms and Other Life Forms 5.6.8.13 Treatment of Human Beings 5.6.8.14 Human Beings and Biological Processes for Their Generation 5.6.8.15 Agriculture and Horticulture 5.6.8.16 Combinations, Collocations, Kits, Packages and Mere Admixtures 5.6.8.17 New Uses 5.6.8.18 Other Issues e.g. Contrary to Law, Mere Admixtures 5.6.8.19 Useful (Utility) 5.6.8.20 Annex A - History of Manner of Manufacture 5.6.9 Acceptance, Grant and Refusal of Applications 5.6.9.1 Conditions and Time for Acceptance 5.6.9.2 Postponement of Acceptance 5.6.9.3 Extension of Acceptance Period 5.6.9.4 Revocation of Acceptance 5.6.9.5 Refusal of Acceptance - Specific Circumstances 5.6.9.6 Refusal of an Application 5.6.9.7 Continued Examination - Result of a Decision 5.6.9.8 Lapsing of an Application 5.6.9.9 Withdrawal of an Application 5.6.9.10 Double Patenting - s64(2) and 101B(2)(h) - Multiple Applications 5.6.9.11 Parallel Applications (Applications for both Innovation and Standard) 5.6.9.12 Register of Patents 5.6.9.13 Annex A - Example Bar-to-Grant Letter (Accepted Despite Multiple Inventions) 5.6.9.14 Acceptance and QRS Issues 5.6.10 Divisional Applications 5.6.10.1 Requirements to Claim Divisional Status 5.6.10.2 Priority Entitlement 5.6.10.3 Time Limits for Filing 5.6.10.4 Status of the Parent 5.6.10.5 Examination of Divisional Applications 5.6.10.6 Innovation Divisional Applications 5.6.10.7 Annex A - Procedural Outline to Divisional Examination 5.6.11 Patents of Addition 5.6.11.1 Conditions for Filing 5.6.11.2 Improvement or Modification 5.6.11.3 Differentiation from the Parent 5.6.11.4 Examination of Additional Applications 5.6.11.5 Amendment of the Parent 5.6.11.6 Annex A - Procedural Outline to Patents of Addition Examination 5.6.12 Preliminary Search and Opinion (PSO) 5.6.12.1 Requests for PSO 5.6.12.2 PSO - Search and Examination Procedure 5.6.12.3 PSO - Report Requirements 5.6.12.4 Response to the PSO 5.6.13 Re-Examination 5.6.13.1 Commencing Re-Examination 5.6.13.2 Re-Examination Process 5.6.13.3 Completion of Re-Examination 5.6.13.4 Refusal to Grant or Revocation Following Re-Examination 5.6.14 Secret Cases and Applications Involving Associated Technologies 5.6.14.1 Effect of Prohibition orders 5.6.14.2 Initial Handling - Secret Cases 5.6.14.3 Allocation, Case Movement and Reporting - Secret Cases 5.6.14.4 Prohibited Cases as Prior Art 5.6.14.5 Chapter 15 Applications (s147 to s153) 5.6.15 Innovation Patents 5.6.15.1 The Innovation Patent System 5.6.15.2 Types of Innovation Patents 5.6.15.3 Formalities Check for Innovation Patents 5.6.15.4 Examination of Innovation Patents 5.6.15.5 Determining Innovative Step 5.6.15.6 Certification, Opposition, Ceasing/Expiring of Innovation Patents 5.6.16 Annex A - Procedural Outline for Full Examination of a Standard Patent Application 5.6.17 Annex B - Indicators of Special or Different Considerations 5.6.18 Annex C - Applicant and Inventor Details as Shown on PCT Pamphlet Front Page 5.6.19 Annex D - Example of PCT Pamphlet Front Page​​​​​​​ 5.7 Amendments 5.7.1 What can be Amended and When 5.7.1.1 What Documents can be Amended? 5.7.1.2 Who can Request Amendments (incl consent of licensees/mortgagees)? 5.7.1.3 When can Amendments be Requested? 5.7.1.4 Requirements to provide Reasons for Amendments 5.7.1.5 Withdrawal of Amendments 5.7.1.6 Circumstances where an amendment cannot be processed (i.e. pending court proceedings, Application has been Refused) 5.7.1.7 Granting Leave to Amend 5.7.1.8 Fees Associated with Amendments 5.7.1.9 Annex A - Guidelines for Completing the Voluntary Section 104 Allowance Form 5.7.2 Amendment of the Patent Request and Other Filed Documents 5.7.2.1 General Considerations 5.7.2.2 Non-Allowable Amendments to Patent Request 5.7.2.3 Changing the Applicant or Nominated Person 5.7.2.4 Converting the Application 5.7.2.5 Amendments to the Notice of Entitlement and Other Documents 5.7.3 Amendment of Provisional Applications 5.7.4 Amendments to Complete Specifications 5.7.4.1 Form of proposed amendments (statement of proposed amendments) 5.7.4.2 Allowability of Amendments Prior to Acceptance 5.7.4.3 Allowability of Amendments After Acceptance 5.7.4.4 Allowability of Amendments After Grant 5.7.4.5 Amendments not Otherwise Allowable 5.7.4.6 Opposition to Amendments 5.7.4.7 Annex A - Amended Claims Format 5.7.5 Amendments to Correct a Clerical Error or Obvious Mistake 5.7.5.1 Definition of Clerical Error 5.7.5.2 Definition of Obvious Mistake 5.7.5.3 Evidence required to prove a Clerical Error or Obvious Mistake 5.7.6 Amendments Relating to Micro-Organisms and Sequence Listings 5.7.6.1 Insertion or Alteration of s6(c) Information 5.7.6.2 Amendments or Corrections of Sequence Listings 5.7.7 Amendments during Opposition Proceedings 5.7.7.1 Initial Processing of the Request to Amend During Oppositions 5.7.7.2 Considering the Amendments and Comments from the Opponent 5.7.7.3 Considering Amendments as a Result of a Hearing Decision 5.7.7.4 Amendments where Decision of the Commissioner is Appealed 5.7.7.5 Annex A - Section 104 Amendments During Opposition Proceedings: Check Sheet