Gene patenting report implicates all R&D

National IP firm Fisher Adams Kelly has been swift to realise potentially far-reaching implications arising from the Senate’s much-anticipated gene patenting report, saying new suggestions in the report mean any Australian company investing in R&D could be substantially, and potentially negatively, affected.

The report was originally commissioned to consider the impact of gene patents on the Australian healthcare industry and whether the Patents Act 1990 should be amended to prohibit the grant of gene patents.

However, upon its release, Mark Egerton, Partner and Head of the Life Sciences Team, was surprised to see no firm recommendations regarding gene patenting, but instead a shift in the report’s focus, which suggests toughening the utility, disclosure and inventive step tests across the board for all patents.

“The real sting in the tail is that this report not only fails to offer viable solutions to the gene patenting debacle, but instead it recommends a panacea of tightening up patent applications across the board,” Egerton explains.

Should recommendations in the report become legislated in the Patents Act, it will have consequences for all Australian large corporates, technology firms and any businesses which invest heavily in research and development in Australia, as the bar will be raised for obtaining patent protection in all technological areas.