European Community v Commissioner of Patents

The European Community brought an appeal against a decision made by the Commissioner of Patents' Delegate, which allowed an opposition to the European Community's Australian patent application number 713629. The Federal Court of Australia was tasked with reviewing the Delegate's decision, which had the effect of dismissing the patent application.

The central legal issue before the court was whether the Delegate's decision to allow the opposition was legally sound. Specifically, the court needed to determine if the patent claims in question were valid and did not infringe on existing patents. The European Community argued that the Delegate had erred in law by not correctly applying the relevant provisions of the Patents Act 1990.

The court found that the Delegate had indeed erred in law. It was determined that the Delegate had misapplied the criteria for assessing novelty and inventive step, which are critical components of patentability. The court emphasised that the Delegate had not correctly balanced the relevant prior art against the patent claims. Consequently, the court concluded that the Delegate's decision to allow the opposition was flawed, and the opposition should have been dismissed. The appeal was allowed, and the opposition to the patent application was dismissed in its entirety. The court also vacated the costs order from the opposition hearing below.