AusPat changes for IP Reforms
On March 23rd 2013 we will be making changes to AusPat. These changes are related to the introduction of the IP Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Act 2012. The Act comes into full effect on April 15th 2013.
AusPat Changes
The changes being made to AusPat include:
- "Sealed" will no longer be a valid patent status. It will be replaced in searching and display by the term "Granted".
- In the future Preliminary Search and Opinion (PSO) reports will be available in eDossier and the report completion date will be published in the Application Details screen.
- Opposition labels will be amended to reflect the business change from serving to filing requests.
Please check the Release Notes for more detailed information on the change.
AusPat downtime on 23 March 2013
AusPat will be upgraded to version 2.3 during 8:30 am to 9:00 pm, Canberra Time, on Saturday March 23rd 2013 to implement the above changes. AusPat will be unavailable during this period. Following the release users may experience searching issues (identified below) until Tuesday March 26th.
Issues and Actions for AusPat users 23-26 March 2013
As a consequence of the upgrade, (specifically the number of records updated) the search database will need to be rebuilt and search functionality will be limited until Tuesday, March 26th. During this period the following behaviour is expected:
- Searching for the status of "Granted" in Structured Search will produce no results (although it will be an allowable selection);
- AusPat will not allow the user to search for the status of "Sealed" in Structured Search;
- Searching for the status of "Sealed" in Advanced Search will produce a list of records correct for 22nd March. In the Application Details page these records will display a status of "Granted".
Saved searches - what you need to know
After the release, if you are going to rerun saved searches you will need to modify your searches by replacing an application status of "sealed" with an application status of "granted".
The status of granted will apply to all patents including those that previously had a status of sealed.
What was published in the Journal of Patents is, however, a historical record. Therefore, publication actions showing "Letters Patent Sealed" will remain unchanged on the Application Details page (under the "Publication history" section).
When searching on "Publication action" using "Letters Patent Sealed/Patent Granted" in Structured Search or Advanced search both applications that were advertised "sealed" and applications that will now be advertised as "granted" will be displayed.
Please contact us at patentsearch.feedback@ipaustralia.gov.au if you require any further information.
Last Updated: 05/3/2013
