Australia: Patent

Australian patent law requires all patents to be novel—meaning the invention must be new when compared with prior art existing before the priority date. A single prior disclosure that lacks novelty can invalidate a patent claim, jeopardizing licensing agreements, freedom-to-operate assessments, and infringement actions.

Australia's pharmaceutical patent landscape has reached a critical juncture, with appellate courts reconsidering fundamental principles of patent scope, term extensions, and remedies that will shape originator-generic disputes for the foreseeable future. As the High Court prepares to rule on patent term extensions for formulation patents and new Federal Court practice directions take effect, the strategic calculus for both innovators and generic entrants is being fundamentally rewritten.

The Full Federal Court's decision in The NOCO Company v Brown and Watson International establishes that divisional patent applications must disclose the best method known at their individual filing dates, not the original priority date. This ruling creates new obligations for patent holders managing divisional families and opens strategic opportunities for challengers to attack patents filed years after their parent applications. Patent practitioners must now reassess their portfolio strategies as this uniq