Professional Patent & Trademark Attorneys - Melbourne
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Our culture of care, transparency and commerciality means you will be provided with very careful counsel and transparency around processes and costs (which are fixed/capped). Our advice is always aligned with the commercial outcomes you seek.
Patenting In Your Industry
We will ensure you are working with one of our patent attorneys who specialises in your industry. Here’s how:
Your Baxter IP attorney is more than just an attorney. All Baxter IP attorneys have been trained by leading experts in commercialisation, development, capital raising, licensing, government grants and deal-making through Re-Think Academy™ with the support of FastCircle™ and so provide more holistic IP advice. Because of these systems, more of Baxter IP's clients progress from provisional patent application to PCT patent application than any other Australian firm.
Baxter IP has been increasingly awarded in recent years for its expertise in Australian patents and trademarks and particularly for its work in the field of software patents.
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A patent is an exclusive right or monopoly granted by the Commonwealth for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides, in general, a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. A patent provides an enforceable legal right to prevent others from exploiting an invention.
Patent protection means that the invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed or sold without the patent owner’s consent. To stop infringement of a patent, the patent must normally be enforced in a court. Conversely, a court can also declare a patent invalid upon a successful challenge by a third party.
For an invention to be patentable, it must satisfy certain criteria. For example, it must be new (novel) when compared with public disclosures anywhere in the world and contain an inventive or innovative step when compared with what was known by the skilled person in the field. The only present statutory exclusion from patentability in Australia is the patenting of human beings and the biological processes for their generation.
A patent owner has the right to decide who may – or may not – use the patented invention for the period in which the invention is protected. The patent owner may give permission to, or license, other parties to use the invention on mutually agreed terms. The owner may also sell the right to the invention to someone else, who will then become the new owner of the patent.
The Australian Patents Act provides that a communication between a registered patent attorney and the attorney’s client in intellectual property matters, and any record or document made for the purposes of such a communication, are privileged to the same extent as a communication between a solicitor and his or her client. That is, registered patent attorneys are under a strict obligation of confidentiality and a strict fiduciary requirement to use your information only to your benefit.
Only the inventor or the person who has acquired the rights in the invention from the inventor can be granted a patent for that invention. If the invention was conceived and developed by the inventor as an employee, the rights to the invention may pass to the employer. If intellectual property is likely to be developed by employees, contractors or consultants in the course of their normal duties, it would be prudent to put a written agreement in place before the relevant work is done.
It is critically important to file a patent application before either publicly disclosing the details of the invention or conducting any commercial activities in respect of the invention. Any such actions will normally invalidate your right to pursue patent protection, although if such a situation arises, you should immediately consult your patent attorney.
A standard patent usually issues within a period of between two (2) to five (5) years from the date of filing of the complete application. However, the period can be shortened considerably if required. An innovation patent typically issues within a period of one (1) to three (3) months. Please note, however, an innovation patent must be certified before legal action can be taken against a potential infringer.
A provisional application is used to establish a priority date for your invention (for the purposes of establishing that your invention is new). A provisional application is only temporary and an Australian or International patent application must be filed within 12 months of lodging the provisional application for your application to retain its priority date.
In general, an Australian standard patent has a maximum term of 20 years, from the date of filing of the complete application, provided renewal fees are paid. An Australian innovation patent, on the other hand, has a maximum term of 8 years from the date of filing of the complete application.
