As intellectual property chapters are now regularly part of free trade agreements, countries need to have a clear view of what elements of a patent system will encourage domestic innovation and what elements will simply raise the cost of goods and services. Drawing on the range of empirical...

The inventive step is the critical variable in determining balance between patent costs and patent benefits. Set at the right level it ensures that the knowledge spillovers from new inventions offset the costs of restraining competition. But asking the question "is it obvious?" sets a far lower...

Drawing on case law and the results of an empirical study, this paper demonstrates that the height of the inventive step in Australia is close to zero and substantially different from the "significant advance over what is known" advised to the Australian parliament in 2011. To "raise" the height...

Economists assume there is new knowledge or know-how embedded in patented inventions. This new knowledge should result in spillover benefits which can provide dynamic efficiency gains to offset the static efficiency losses of the patent system. Unfortunately this assumption is out-of-date....

In the context of the overall purpose of patent policy - to induce invention that would not otherwise occur and which delivers a net benefit to society - this paper reviews the evidence available on the question of gene patenting. The paper starts with assessing the evidence for the need for a...

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...

There do not appear to be any cost-benefit assessments of the impact of patent systems, nor any data that can be used to directly assess the economic impact of patent systems. Discussions of patent policy therefore tend to be theoretical, and any evidence used is anecdotal rather than...

The major focus of this paper is introducing an objectives clause in patent statutes. Such proposals have been made in Australia as it is clear from case law that judges need better direction as to the goals of the patent system. An advisory group, composed largely of patent system...