A unique opportunity to influence New Zealand's patent law

The United States recently announced it will enter free trade negotiations involving New Zealand. These negotiations will create a favourable environment for our clients involved in IT and software businesses to make submissions on New Zealand's proposed patents legislation.

As we reported in Chip Chat Issue 6, the Patents Bill introduced to the New Zealand Parliament in July 2008 is software friendly but does include some specific exceptions.

The United States recently announced its intention to begin negotiations with New Zealand, Singapore, Chile, and Brunei, for a free trade deal. The prospect of a free trade deal is good news for clients wanting changes to New Zealand patent law.

To secure a free trade deal with the United States, New Zealand will almost certainly have to make significant changes to key aspects of our proposed patent law. For example, the Patents Bill in its current form would abolish pre-grant oppositions. This is a particular area of concern for many patent applicants.

By setting out tougher examination criteria, the Bill aims to ensure that better quality patents issue. But this of course assumes that the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand is resourced effectively and applies the new examination criteria sensibly. Retaining the pre-grant opposition procedure available under the current Act would safeguard against the issue of clearly defective patents.

The Patents Bill will not reach the submission stage until next year. In the meantime, New Zealand will be having a parliamentary election. Irrespective of the free trade deal, if there is a change in government, then some of the policy decisions that informed the current Bill may be able to be reconsidered.

We suggest that clients interested in patent law reform in New Zealand should use the next few months to establish their position and strategy. Free trade negotiations and the possible change in government create a unique opportunity for revision of the law.

If you would like to talk about law reform and making submissions on the Patents Bill, or would like any more information, please contact Matt Adams or Kate McHaffie.