In recent years, the Australian and New Zealand Patent Offices have been preparing for the establishment of a single application process (SAP) and single examination process (SEP) between the two countries. Under these processes, patent applicants would have the ability to file a single application covering both Australia and New Zealand. The application would be examined by one Patent Office only, thereby potentially streamlining the patent process, as well as reducing overall costs to patent applicants.
The Australian government has already passed legislation relating to SAP and SEP, and an equivalent bill was introduced to New Zealand parliament in 2015.
However, in a report issued by New Zealand Parliament’s Commerce Committee in July 2016, it was recommended that provisions relating to SAP and SEP be removed from the bill. In its reasons for providing this recommendation, the Commerce Committee stated that SAP and SEP are “unlikely to provide significant benefits to New Zealand”, and that the implementation of these regimes would result in “increased administrative costs to New Zealand businesses”.
The Committee also slammed the lack of consultation with New Zealand innovation businesses and patent attorneys before the drafting of the legislation, stating that it considered this to be “a very sloppy, unedifying process of law drafting”.
The future of the single Trans-Tasman patent application now rests in the hands of the New Zealand government, which is yet to state whether it intends to accept the Commerce Committee’s recommendation.