Date of patent when there has been an extension under s223

Issue summary

Under section 24 of the Patents Act, a document is disregarded for the assessment of novelty and inventive step (and innovative step) if a complete application is made within the prescribed period. The time period can be extended under s 223.

Under section 65, the date of the patent is the date of filing unless a different date is determined under the regulations.

There is no provision to alter the date of the patent to the last day that the application should have been filed, as there is for extensions in similar situations (such as to claim priority from a basic document).

This anomaly would be addressed by amendment of reg 6.3 to allow the date of the patent to be altered to 12 months after the date of public availability of the relevant information.

Comments

Issue to be considered in future. Other matters of higher priority will be considered first.

See also item 80.