Coming Soon: Online Access to Australian Patent Prosecution Histories

IP Australia, the Australian government authority that comprises the Patent, Trade Marks and Designs Offices, has announced that from early 2011 patent prosecution documents will be available via the AusPat online search database.

The AusPat enhancement, to be called eDossier, will provide access to documents relating to the prosecution of patent applications dating back to 2006 and which are open for public inspection (OPI), including:

1. requests for examination ;
2. examination reports;
3. responses to examination reports;
4. amendments; and
5. search results.

This is great news, and we look forward to IP Australia joining the elite group of patent offices around the world that provide the public with this level and ease of access to information.

The IP Australia announcement of eDossier can be found here.

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Before You Go…

Thank you for reading this article to the end – I hope you enjoyed it, and found it useful.  Almost every article I post here takes a few hours of my time to research and write, and I have never felt the need to ask for anything in return.

But now – for the first, and perhaps only, time – I am asking for a favour.  If you are a patent attorney, examiner, or other professional who is experienced in reading and interpreting patent claims, I could really use your help with my PhD research.  My project involves applying artificial intelligence to analyse patent claim scope systematically, with the goal of better understanding how different legal and regulatory choices influence the boundaries of patent protection.  But I need data to train my models, and that is where you can potentially assist me.  If every qualified person who reads this request could spare just a couple of hours over the next few weeks, I could gather all the data I need.

The task itself is straightforward and web-based – I am asking participants to compare pairs of patent claims and evaluate their relative scope, using an online application that I have designed and implemented over the past few months.  No special knowledge is required beyond the ability to read and understand patent claims in technical fields with which you are familiar.  You might even find it to be fun!

There is more information on the project website, at claimscopeproject.net.  In particular, you can read:

1. a detailed description of the study, its goals and benefits; and
2. instructions for the use of the online claim comparison application.

Thank you for considering this request!

Mark Summerfield

Tags: Australia, News, Patent Office