Patents Amendment Bill
New Zealand has two patent laws — an older one from 1953 and a newer, stricter one from 2013. Some companies have been using a loophole to file new patent applications under the easier 1953 rules, even today. This bill closes that loophole. Any new 'divisional' applications (spin-off applications based on older ones) filed after this bill passes must meet the tougher 2013 standards. This means patents for obvious or weak inventions are less likely to be granted, saving other businesses the cost of challenging them.
What this affects
Tap a topic to see how this bill touches it — with the parts of the text it’s based on.
Businesses will face less cost and risk from having to challenge weak patents that were granted under older, easier rules
This is an issue because the 1953 Act criteria for examining patent applications is of a lower standard than the 2013 Act and can result in unmeritorious inventions being patented.
Third parties (such as other businesses) can later oppose the grant of these patents through a review process or apply to have the patents revoked. However, this is costly and time-consuming for businesses, with no guarantee of success.
The Bill will adjust the 2013 Act so that 1953 Act applications will be examined in broadly the same way as 2013 Act applications. This will avoid the likelihood of a third party having to oppose the grant of a patent.
Progress through Parliament
Have your say
Submissions open once a bill reaches the select committee stage. In the meantime, you can write to your local MP about it.
Write to your MPBill text sourced from legislation.govt.nz (Parliamentary Counsel Office). Arapono’s summary and breakdown are drafted with AI grounded in that official text and reviewed by an Arapono editor for accuracy and neutrality before publishing. Arapono is non-partisan and takes no position on this bill.