A patent attorney is a person who represents a patent applicant or patent holder and is specially qualified to do so. Patent attorneys can help clients file, prosecute (e.g. respond to examination reports) and maintain patent applications as well as act for clients in patent oppositions and provide patent validity and infringement advice.

Registration as a patent attorney in Australia is administered by the Professional Standards Board for Patents and Trade Marks Attorneys. The Professional Standard Board publishes a Code of Conduct and administers the disciplinary regime for the profession.

Some Australian patent attorneys are fellows or ordinary members of the Institute of Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia, the professional body governing the patent attorney profession in Australia.

Patent attorneys have a right of privilege in their communication with clients in respect of intellectual property matters.

Qualifications

Patent attorneys generally must have an engineering or science degree and have completed a group of topics prescribed by the Professional Standards Board. This group of topics may take the form of a Masters degree such as the Master of Industrial Property offered by the University of Technology, Sydney.

Activities

The Institute of Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys website provides a good summary of what activities patent attorneys can carry out:

  • Advise on intellectual property (IP), and help IP owners register and maintain their property
  • Apply for and secure patents, registered trademarks, industrial designs and plant variety types in Australia and overseas
  • Help transfer technology by licensing and other processes
  • Conduct IP audits of organisations and products
  • Conduct litigation in Australia and overseas
  • Determine whether a development is new and sufficiently inventive enough to justify a patent
  • Determine the nature and ambit of inventions and prepare patent specifications
  • Lodge documents with the Patent Office, and guide applications through the process
  • They also help clients manage their IP portfolios, advise on patents and registrations held by others, and advise on whether developments infringe or might infringe rights held by others.

This site is administered by Baxter IP

Baxter IP

Baxter IP is one of Australia’s leading boutique firms of intellectual property specialists. Their expertise in obtaininginternational patent protection for their clients combined with the fact that they are the only Australian firm that has an associated full service product commercialisation consultancy is what sets them apart.

Baxter IP acts for multinationals, investors, start-ups, individual inventors and not-for-profit organisations across a broad range of technologies.

If you would like more information about Australian patent attorneys, please contact Baxter IP: www.baxterip.com.au.