Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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PATENTS AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2003 (NO. 1) 2003 NO. 71

STATUTORY RULES 2003 No. 71

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources

Patents Act 1990

Patents Amendment Regulations 2003 (No. 1)

Section 228 of the Patents Act 1990 allows the Governor-General to make regulations for the purposes of the Act, to prescribe matters necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act and for the conduct of any business relating to the Patent Office.

Subsection 45(3) of the Patents Act requires applicants to provide the Commissioner of Patents with the results of any documentary searches that have been carried out in respect of the invention claimed in the application, or in any corresponding application filed overseas.

The purpose of the Regulations is to amend the Patents Regulations 1991 to extend the transitional period for complying with the current search results regime under subsection 45(3) of the Patents Act from 1 June 2003 to 1 February 2004.

On 1 April 2002 amendments to the Patents Act and Regulations came into effect changing the requirements relating to the filing of search results under subsection 45(3). A transitional arrangement was included under subsection 45(3) whereby 1 January 2003 was set as the earliest date for mandatory compliance for applicants to file search results, irrespective of other time limits (paragraph 3.17A(2)(c) of the Patents Regulations).

There have been a number of implementation problems with the current search results regime. The Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill 2002 (the Bill) has been introduced into Parliament to rectify these problems. The amendments in this Bill will completely replace the current search results regime such that compliance with the current regime will not be required by anyone.

Due to delays with the passage of the Bill, the transitional period was extended from 1 January 2003 to 1 June 2003 in November 2002. However, the Bill was not passed by Parliament in the Autumn 2003 sittings, therefore the new search results regime will not be in place before 1 June 2003. To give users of the patent system certainty, the proposed Regulations would extend the current transitional deadline of 1 June 2003 to 1 February 2004.

The details of the Regulations are as follows:

Regulation 1 identifies the Regulations as the Patents Amendment Regulations 2003 (No. 1).

Regulation 2 specifies that the Regulations commence on gazettal.

Regulation 3 provides that Schedule 1 amends the Patents Regulations.

Item 1 of Schedule 1 amends paragraph 3.17A(2)(c) of the Patents Regulations to replace 1 June 2003 with 1 February 2004.