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Applying for a patent

Patentability
What are the criteria for patentability in your jurisdiction?

To meet the requirements for patentability in New Zealand, an invention must:

  • be a manner of manufacture (ie, belong to the useful arts, provide a material advantage and be of value in the field of economic endeavour);
  • be novel, inventive and useful; and
  • not be subject to the specific exclusions set out in the Patents Act. 

What are the limits on patentability?

Inventions that are contrary to public order or morality are not patentable. Specific exclusions include:

  • processes for cloning or modifying human beings;
  • human beings and biological processes for their generation;
  • the commercial or industrial use of human embryos; 
  • the genetic modification of animals in a way that is likely to cause them suffering, without substantial medical benefit to human beings or animals;
  • methods of treatment of human beings by surgery or therapy; and
  • methods of diagnosis practised on human beings.

The commissioner of patents, trademarks and designs may consult the Maori Advisory Committee or any other person considered appropriate in determining what is contrary to public order or morality.

To what extent can inventions covering software be patented?

The Patents Act specifies that a computer program is neither an invention nor a manner of manufacture (ie, belonging to the useful arts, providing a material advantage and of value in the field of economic endeavour).

If the only novel aspect of an invention is the use of a computer program to carry out a process, it is not an invention. However, if a computer program is used to make a known apparatus work in a way that provides a substantially improved result, a claim to the apparatus when used to implement the program may be patentable.

Specific advice should be sought in each case.

To what extent can inventions covering business methods be patented?

No specific exclusion on business methods exist.

In addition to novelty and inventive step, the question of patentability is likely to turn on whether the method is considered to be a manner of manufacture, (ie, whether it belongs to the useful arts, provides a material advantage and is of value in the field of economic endeavour).

Specific advice should be sought in each case.

To what extent can inventions relating to stem cells be patented?

No explicit provisions prohibit the patentability of stem cells and methods of using stem cells. However, insofar as any use of stem cells relates to processes for cloning or modifying human beings or causing animal suffering, such use would fall foul of specific exclusions.

The commissioner of patents, trademarks and designs may determine that inventions are not patentable if they are contrary to public order or morality, so any invention relating to stem cells should be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Are there restrictions on any other kinds of invention?
No other restrictions on inventions exist.