How much time required to get patent in Australia ?

“The time required for drafting and filing a Patent application in Australia is about 15 to 20 days, then you receive a “patent pending” status. The time required for getting a patent grant in Australia is 2-3 years by the normal route, and about in about 6 months from the request made under Accelerated Processing of Patent Applications” (APPA).“

How much time required to get patent in Australia ?

time required to get patent in US — time required to get patent in Australia

When you (inventor) ask about the time required to get a patent in Australia for my invention, even if did not specifically mention it, there are 2 intentions behind asking that question and ultimately 2 answers:

Time required to file a patent in Australia for your invention
Time required to get a granted patent in Australia for your invention

Time required to file a patent in Australia

It takes about 2-3 weeks for a patent attorney to write a patent application and file it. Steps include

novelty search or patent search (time required for patent search is about 1 to 2 weeks)
patentability opinion
drafting a patent application and (time required for patent drafting is about 2 to 3 weeks )
filing a patent application at Australian Patent Office (once all documents are ready time to file patent application in Australian Patent Office could be few hours to 1 day)

Time required to get a granted patent in Australia

It takes about 1 year to 3years to get granted a patent in Australia for your invention. when a non-provisional application is filed generally it is reviewed by examiner in about 22 to 24 months (within 2 years) and on an average, the time required to get the patent in Australia is about 30 to 32 months.

Steps include :

filing non provisional patent application ( 0 month )
Publication of application (18 months)
Examination (within 22 months as per average)
Examination report
Office action (16 to 18 months after filing)
Grant of patent (within 32 months as per average)

you can read the section on procedure, timeline, and costs for getting a patent in Australia

How to fast track patent in Australia ? speed up the process to grant

The examination of a patent application may be accelerated, the Australian Patent Office will advance an application out of turn for examination if the applicant files a grantable petition to make special under the accelerated examination program.

If one of the participating offices decides that at least one claim in your application is allowed, you can ask another office to fast track examination of your corresponding application. Work carried out under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) can also be considered, such as a written opinion or examination report.

There are two patent prosecution highway programs that allow you to fast track examination of your patent application in Australia as well as overseas.

If you’re looking to quickly protect your idea as part of your commercialisation plan, you may decide to request expedition.

1. Examination under the Global Patent Prosecution Highway

The Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) is an agreement between over 20 patent offices around the world, the Nordic Patent Institute, and the Visegrad Patent Institute (VPI). You can do this if you:

Need to be able to enforce your patent soon
Have an investor that is waiting on a patent to be granted
Urgently need to begin production or complete market research
Need to license your invention to a third party.

2. Examination under the European patent prosecution highway agreement

The IP Australia-European Patent Office Patent Prosecution Highway (IP Australia-EPO PPH) is an agreement between us and the European Patent Office (EPO). This program leverages fast-track examinations so you can obtain patents faster and more efficiently.

Australian applications : You can request expedited examination for Australian applications when:

An associated application has been examined by the EPO
At least one claim has been determined to be patentable/allowable.

Things you can do with “Patent Pending” or patent filed status

Now, When a typical inventor/applicant gets to know that it takes more than 2 years to get granted a patent for his invention, the immediate questions in mind would be;

Do I have to wait for 2-3 years to do anything about my invention? Till the patent is granted?
How it will make sense in my current business to wait for such long time period ?

The most important fact to consider here is, you get the status of “patent pending” or “patent filed” in Australia as soon as you file the patent application at Australian Patent Office. This ensures the priority date is secured and now you (inventor) do not need to wait till grant of a patent for most of the activities you wish to do with your invention like:

Talking to investors and financers to get funding
Researching the financial worth of the invention
Finding the right partners for building a business around an invention
Advertising and commercializing
Practicing the invention for trial purposes with some clients
Searching for the right partner to license the patent after grant
Or in some cases entirely selling the invention as patent-pending

However, The only thing you cannot do till you have been granted a patent on your name for the invention is to “stop others from practicing the invention for commercial purpose”!!! In other words, you cannot stop others from using, selling, offering for sale, or importing your invention until and unless you have granted a patent on your name for the invention. For only stopping others you need to wait till the grant of a patent!!! (2-3 years)

almost all activities (even selling of the patent in the process) can be done after you have filled the patent application that is your invention is having “patent pending” status. Hence even if it takes more than 2 years to get granted a patent for your invention, It doesn’t stop you from doing almost all activities generally related to a patent as soon as you file the patent !!!

6. How much time required to get patent in Australia ?