Restrictions Proposed for Divisionals of 1953 Act Patents

The Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment are seeking feedback on a proposal to amend the transitional provisions of the Patents Act 2013 so as to limit the filing of divisionals from applications filed under the Patents Act 1953. Submissions need to be filed by 5pm Friday 14th October 2016. It is proposed that section 258 of the Patents Act 2013 will be amended to either:

• only allow divisional applications to be filed from applications made under the Patents Act 1953 up until a yet to be specified date; or
• where a divisional application is made from an application under the Patents Act 1953 after a yet to be specified date, then such applications will be examined for obviousness in line with the practice under the Patents Act 2013.

Author: Quinn Miller