Patent services in Australia and overseas
To patent an invention in Australia, you must file a patent application with IP Australia and convince them your invention is novel and involves an inventive step.
Most businesses start by filing a provisional patent application, which fixes their priority date and buys twelve months to get things in order.
The patent application process can span four to six years and thousands in costs if you're pursuing more than one country.
I’ve been helping Australian businesses with patent protection since 2014 so please reach out for a free consult.
“What a great decision to engage IP Savvy for my patent application. Warren's IP, legal and engineering skills, knowledge and experience were outstanding and the filed application were so comprehensive. I highly recommend IP Savvy and would definitely use them again for any IP work.”
- Col
Written by Warren Wong
Registered Australian and New Zealand Patent Attorney and Trade Marks Attorney.
Where should you start?
Most people arrive here at one of four points. Find yours below:
You've invented something and haven't filed anything.
File your provisional patent application before showing your invention to anyone. Disclosure is the mistake that can't be undone.
→ Provisional patent applications
Your provisional application is approaching twelve months.
You've got a decision to make about countries and about how much to spend. The PCT route defers it by another eighteen months.
→ PCT applicationsYou want an enforceable patent in Australia.
That's a standard application, whether you're converting a provisional, entering the national phase, or filing here directly.
→ Standard patent applicationsYou've received an adverse examination report.
Nothing has gone wrong, but a clock is now running that can't be extended.
→ Responding to patent objections.
What does a patent actually give you?
A patent is a right to stop other people. For up to twenty years you can prevent anyone else making, selling, importing or using your invention in the country that granted it, and you can license that right to whoever you choose.
Two limits catch people out:
It's territorial. An Australian patent stops nothing in the United States. Every country you want protection in needs its own patent, and that's where the real money goes.
It's negative. A patent lets you stop others. It doesn't guarantee you're free to sell your own product, because someone else's patent might cover a component of it. Those are separate questions.
Is my invention patentable?
To be patentable in Australia, your invention must be:
Novel. New against everything publicly available anywhere in the world on your priority date.
Inventive. Not an obvious step from what already existed.
A manner of manufacture. The legal test for what can be patented at all. This is where software and business methods most often fail in Australia.
Useful, and not secretly used commercially before you filed.
Novelty is the unforgiving one, particularly because publicly disclosing your invention can destroy its novelty.
These days, public disclosures include social media posts, YouTube videos, trade shows, pitch nights, crowdfunding, or an unprotected conversation with a manufacturer.
While Australia gives you a twelve-month grace period for your own disclosures, most other jurisdictions do not. So a careless slip that Australia forgives may cost you dearly overseas.
If you've already disclosed, please tell me. Sometimes there's still a path, and we are better off finding out now rather than years into the process.
The patent application process
Australian businesses often follow the below steps to secure patent protection at home and overseas.
Stage one: provisional application
Your first filing. Establishes your priority date, lets you say patent pending, and starts a twelve-month clock. The specification drafted here can constrain everything that follows, which is why it deserves professional attention.
→ Provisional patent applications
Stage two (optional): PCT application
Filed within twelve months of the provisional. Keeps your rights alive across more than 150 countries while you work out which markets are worth paying for. You also get an independent search report, which is often what investors actually want to see.
→ PCT applications
Stage three: choosing countries
You file in each country of interest. This decision can set the lifetime cost of your patent family, and it's where I push businesses hardest to be very selective. With a PCT application, you get up to 31 months from your priority date to make your stage 3 filings. With only a provisional, you have just 12 months.
Stage four: examination
Each country examines patent applications separately under its own patent laws.
In Australia you have to explicitly request examination of your application, and nothing happens until you do.
→ Standard patent applications
Stage five: objections
Almost everyone gets them. Overcoming them is ordinary work, but the Australian acceptance deadline is non-extendible, so timing matters more than most people expect.
→ Responding to patent objections
Stage six: acceptance, opposition, grant
Acceptance of your Australian patent application is advertised, third parties get three months to oppose, and most applications proceed to grant unopposed. The process is similar overseas.
Stage seven: renewals
Patent offices require periodic payment of renewal fees to keep your patent active, much like paying to keep your car registered.
How long does it take to get a patent in Australia?
Four to six years if there’s no need to speed things up. Of course, if you need your patent granted urgently, the process can be expedited. That said, if enforcement of your patent isn’t needed, letting the process run its course can help spread costs out.
| Milestone | When |
|---|---|
| File provisional | Day one |
| File PCT | 12 months from priority date |
| File standard applications | 30 to 31 months from priority date (with PCT), otherwise 12 months from priority date |
| Request examination | Within two months of being directed by IP Australia |
| First examination report | Often 12 to 18 months after requesting examination |
| Acceptance deadline | 12 months from the examination report |
| Grant | About 3 months after acceptance is advertised |
How much does a patent cost?
There are two main components to patent fees. The first are official government fees paid to Patent Offices; these fees are published and fixed. The second is professional fees, which can vary with how technical the invention is, and how complex any patent office objections are.
Country selection is another key factor in determining costs. Each additional country brings its own official fees, its own local attorney fees and often translation costs, and those can compound through annual renewals. Cutting even one country from your list will save you more than any discount you could negotiate on drafting. This is why I really push businesses to be selective at the country selection stage.
Unlike many other firms, IP Savvy is proud to not have any internal billing targets, meaning there’s no attorney “earning requirement” that needs to be hit each month, quarter or financial year. This allows us to provide Australian businesses with the best bang-for-buck when it comes to IP services.
I quote fixed fees upfront, after analysing the intricacies of your invention and discussing a patent strategy that works for your business. You'll know the numbers at each step so that you don’t get an invoice you weren't expecting.
So the advice is straightforward:
Spend properly on the drafting of the patent specification, because you only get one chance at it.
Be ruthless about country selection.
When a patent isn't the right answer
I'd rather lose a filing than take money for protection that won't do anything for you. A patent may be the wrong tool if:
Your innovation is a business method or idea without a technical contribution. Australian manner of manufacture law is difficult in this area, and I'll tell you if I think the prospects are poor before you spend on drafting.
The value is in how your product looks, not how it works. That's a registered design, which is faster and cheaper.
Nobody can reverse-engineer your invention. A patent publishes your invention to the world in exchange for a temporary monopoly. If secrecy would last longer, keep your invention a secret.
You've already disclosed in a way that's destroyed novelty in your key markets. Sometimes the honest answer is that the window closed.
You can’t fund enforcement. A patent you can't afford to assert still has licensing and deterrence value, but go in with that understood rather than assumed.
Our patent services
Filing and drafting
Provisional patent applications
Standard patent applications
PCT applications
National phase entry in Australia
Divisional applications
Prosecution and maintenance
Responding to patent objections
Patent renewals
Related rights
Registered designs for what your product looks like
Trademarks for your brand name and logo
Why work with a boutique firm?
The attorney who scopes your invention is the attorney who drafts your specification and argues your case. Nothing gets handed to someone learning on your matter, and you won't be explaining your invention twice to two different people.
You also get told things you might not want to hear. I'd rather tell you at the first call that your invention probably isn't patentable than take a drafting fee and deliver that news in year three.
Read client reviews · About Warren Wong
Common questions
How long does an Australian patent last?
Twenty years from the filing date of the complete application, as long as renewal fees are paid. Some pharmaceutical patents can be extended by up to five years.
Can I file a patent application myself?
Yes. IP Australia accepts self-filed applications. The filing isn't the risk, the specification is. What you can ever claim is limited to what that first document disclosed, so a thin draft can permanently cap your protection and you won't discover it for years.
Are innovation patents still available?
No. IP Australia stopped accepting new innovation patent applications on 25 August 2021. Existing ones run until they expire, with the last expiring by August 2029.
What's the difference between a patent, a design and a trademark?
A patent protects how something works. A registered design protects what a product looks like. A trademark protects your brand name or logo. Plenty of products are worth protecting with more than one.
Do I need a patent before talking to investors?
Not necessarily, but you do need to have filed before disclosing anything that would destroy novelty. A filed provisional plus a confidentiality agreement is the usual position going into those conversations.
Start with a conversation
If you've built something new, book a complimentary call. I'll tell you what's realistically protectable, what it'll cost, and whether a patent is the right tool for your situation.