Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

PATENTS ACT 1990 - SECT 98

             (1)  On re‑examining a complete specification, the Commissioner must ascertain and report whether, to the best of his or her knowledge, the invention, so far as claimed in any claim and when compared with the prior art base as it existed before the priority date of that claim:

                     (a)  is not novel; and

                     (b)  does not involve an inventive step.

             (2)  For the purposes of subsection (1), the prior art base is to be taken not to include information made publicly available only through the doing of an act (whether in or out of the patent area).

[ Note: see also section 7 .]