After filing your standard patent application, you have five years in which to request to have your patent examined.
If you request to have this examination done, without being directed to do so, this is called a voluntary request for examination.
When you file a patent application, it is automatically assessed against the requirements for granting a patent. An Examiner will issue a Direction to Request Examination, after which you have two months to request examination of the application. Requesting examination effectively tells the Examiner that you still want to proceed with the application.
However, there may be a backlog at the patents office and it may take some time (maybe a few years) for an Examiner to get to your patent application before issuing a Direction to Request Examination. If you want the Examiner to get to your application more quickly, you can request an examination voluntarily.
Voluntary requests for examination are also useful when you want your patent to be granted sooner. This may be if you see a competitor commercialising a product that may infringe your patent once it is granted. You can only enforce a granted patent so this is useful if you want to enforce the patent against infringers and otherwise commercialise the patent such as in a sale of licence.
If the deadline for your patent filing (5 years) is approaching and you’re yet to request an examination, you will typically be sent a direction to request examination by the Australian patent office, and typically also a reminder from your patent attorney.
In some cases, you may be prompted to request an examination in advance of the five-year deadline.
The Commissioner of Patents can direct you to request an examination at any time before the deadline by issuing a Direction to Request Examination.
If you do not action a request for examination within the deadline following a received reminder or Direction, your patent application will lapse.
If the Commissioner of Patents has directed you to make the request, you have just two months in which to do so before your application lapses. This request overrides the five-year deadline and can occur any time from the filing date.
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IP Guardian helps protect words, symbols, letters, numbers, names, signatures, phrases, sounds, shapes and smells. Yes, I said smells.
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