The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program is an initiative between IP Australia and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to improve efficiencies in the examination of patent applications.
As of 2 July 2012, WIPO is allowing third party observations to be filed in respect of PCT applications.
The Australian Patent Office announced last week a new schedule of fees that will mostly take effect from 1 July 2012, with changes to fees for filing new applications taking effect from 1 October 2012. A copy of the new fee schedule published by the Australian Patent Office can be found here.
The “Intellectual Property Amendment (Raising The Bar) Act” was passed into law on 15 April 2012.
See the full article here: Patent-law-changes-15April2012