实用新型专利究竟有没有用?听听澳大利亚知识产权局怎么说

澳大利亚的专利分为标准专利和创新专利，其中创新专利(innovation patent)相当于中国的实用新型专利，不需要实审、授权门槛低、费用低、期限短。澳大利亚知识产权局此前的调查表明，创新专利并没有达到保护中小企业知识产权的目标，反而为大企业和国外企业所利用，造成了更多的专利丛林，给中小企业带来威胁。根据最新的法案，澳大利亚将逐步放弃创新专利，于2021年8月25日终结创新专利制度。

本文介绍了相关情况，后附Google翻译，仅供参考。

目前，我国计划全面取消对专利申请的补贴，让专利申请回归市场。而且对实用新型的审查标准也非常严格，也顺应了这一趋势。

The beginning of the end for Australian innovation patents

WEDNESDAY, 11TH MARCH, 2020|MICHAEL BROWN,HAMID HAMANDI -AJ Park

On 26 February 2020, theIntellectual Property Laws Amendment (Productivity Commission Response Part 2 and Other Measures)Act 2020 (‘the Act’) received Royal Assent, providing clarity around the phasing out of Australia’s second-tier innovation patent system.

The innovation patent system has provided applicants with a means of protecting inventions that may not necessarily meet the higher inventive step threshold of a standard patent application. They can also be used when an enforceable right is needed quickly. Innovation patents are usually granted within about a month of filing, due to the lack of pre-grant substantive examination. As a trade-off, innovation patents provide a maximum eight-year term of protection compared to the longer 20-year term of a standard patent.

The assent of the Act marks a major milestone in the Australian Government’s response to the Productivity Commission’s 2016 inquiry into Australia’s intellectual property system. As a result of the inquiry, IP Australia concluded that the innovation patent system was not achieving its intended objective of providing Australian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) a faster and cheaper means of attaining protection for their products.

Despite a large number of submissions received in support of the innovation patent system, IP Australia determined that the innovation patent system was achieving the opposite of its intended objective. IP Australia believes that that larger businesses were using the system as a means of filing bulk applications that stifled SME’s freedom to operate, with big businesses and foreign applicants obtaining significantly more granted innovation patents than Australian SMEs.

The Act sets out a final 18-month window ending on 25 August 2021, after which it will no longer be possible to file new innovation patent applications.

It will still be possible to file divisional innovation patent applications from any parent application filed on or before 25 August 2021, and it will still be possible to convert a standard patent application to an innovation patent application if the standard patent application is filed on or before 25 August 2021.

Finally, any existing innovation patents filed on or before 25 August 2021 will remain in force until expiry. The final expiry date of any innovation patents will be 25 August 2029; eight years after the last filing date of 25 August 2021.

These dates are provided on the IP Australiawebsite, along with other information regarding additional changes to Australia’s patent system.

In lieu of the innovation patent, IP Australia intends to develop an SME fast track examination pathway for accelerated examination of a standard patent application, as well as other tools to assist SMEs.

Google翻译：

澳大利亚开始终结创新专利

2020年2月26日，《 2020年知识产权法修正案(生产力委员会回应第2部分和其他措施)法》(“该法”)获得了皇家批准，为逐步淘汰澳大利亚的第二层创新专利制度提供了清晰的信息。

创新专利制度为申请人提供了一种保护发明的手段，这些发明不一定满足标准专利申请的更高的发明步骤阈值。当需要快速执行权利时，也可以使用它们。由于缺乏授权前的实质审查，创新专利通常在申请后的一个月内被授予。作为一种折衷，与标准专利的更长的20年期限相比，创新专利的最长保护期为8年。

该法案的通过标志着澳大利亚政府对生产力委员会2016年对澳大利亚知识产权制度的调查的回应中的一个重要里程碑。作为调查的结果，澳大利亚知识产权局得出结论，创新专利制度未能实现其为澳大利亚中小型企业(SME)提供更快，更便宜的产品保护手段的预期目标。

尽管收到了大量支持创新专利制度的意见书，澳大利亚知识产权局仍认为创新专利制度正在实现其预期目标的相反目标。澳大利亚知识产权局认为，较大的企业正在使用该系统作为提交批量申请的方式，该申请扼杀了中小企业的经营自由，与澳大利亚的中小企业相比，大型企业和外国申请人获得的创新专利要多得多。

该法案规定了最后的18个月的窗口期，该窗口期于2021年8月25日结束，此后将无法再提交新的创新专利申请。

仍然有可能在2021年8月25日或之前提交的任何母申请中提交分案创新专利申请，并且如果标准专利申请是在或之前提交的，则仍有可能将标准专利申请转换为创新专利申请。2021年8月25日

最后，任何在2021年8月25日或之前提交的现有创新专利将一直有效，直至到期。任何创新专利的最终到期日期是2029年8月25日;在2021年8月25日的最后提交日期之后八年。

这些日期以及有关澳大利亚专利制度的其他变更的其他信息在IP Australia网站上提供。

代替创新专利，澳大利亚知识产权局打算开发一种中小企业快速通道审查途径，以加快对标准专利申请的审查，并提供其他工具来帮助中小企业。