How to speed up the process for faster grant of patent
Fast Track grant of patent in Australia by Accelerated examination: the patent would be granted within 6 months time via the Accelerated Processing of Patent Applications (APPA) program.
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In general, it takes from 2 to 3 years to have a patent granted. There are many strategies and ways to speed up this process and get a patent granted in less time.
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 commercialization plan, you may decide to request expedition.
The time for grant of a patent in Australia through accelerated examination can be approximately six months via the Accelerated Processing of Patent Applications (APPA) program. The fees for accelerated examination vary and can include additional costs alongside standard patent application fees.
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 grant of 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 !!!
- Indian Patent Office, Govt. of India
- Patent Facilitator for Start-ups, Startup India Govt. of India
- Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Telecommunication engineering.
- Author of multiple books on Patents and IPR including a best-selling book on “How to patent an idea in India” which has been selected as the “Memorable Business Book of 2018” by Amazon
- Books are included in the syllabus of Educational Institutions as textbook and reference book on subject of IPR and Patents
- For over 15 years, Prasad has helped protect the intellectual property rights (IPR) of more than 1800 clients, including individuals, entrepreneurs, and educational institutes. This includes patents, trademarks, designs, and copyrights.