Despite advice to parliament that patents are granted only for "a significant advance over what was known and what was available to the public" the evidence shows this is not the standard used. The actual standard is a scintilla – a marginal difference from what is known. The consequence of...

This submission takes a public policy perspective, focusing on the public return from the patent system through competition based on the new technology after the 20-year patent monopoly period expires. The government has agreed time-limited monopolies to encourage domestic invention (the patent...