While we have seen no official announcement, it appears that over the New Year break there may have been a change to the holder of the office of Commissioner of Patents.Many powers and duties are conferred upon the Commissioner under the Act. However, the current Corporate Structure of IP Australia does not include any position with the title 'Commisioner of Patents'. The 'head honcho' is Director General Philip Noonan, while Fatima Beattie is the Deputy Director General, with responsibility for operations of the Patent, Trade Marks and Designs Offices. Within Ms Beattie's area, the Patent and Plant Breeder's Rights Group headed by General Manager Victor Portelli.
For many years, Ms Beattie has held the role of Commissioner which, amongst many other duties, involved having her signature affixed to each issued Patent Deed. We have noticed, however, that as of at least the start of this year, newly-issued Patent Deeds have been signed 'Victor Portelli / Commissioner of Patents'.
We suspect that, in the modern corporate era, the title of Commissioner of Patents is of largerly historical significance. While the Act requires that there be a Commissioner, for various purposes, it would be surprising if these aligned precisely with the job description of a specific role within IP Australia. The title of Commissioner might therefore sensibly be conferred upon any person in the organisation with the necessary authority to fulfill the required functions. Clearly, as Deputy Director General, Ms Beattie was capable of doing so, however it seems quite reasonable to assign the role of Commissioner to the person with most direct responsibility for the operations of the Patent Office.
So, assuming all the above to be an accurate reflection of the current situation, we congratulate Mr Portelli on his new title, and look forward to seeing his signature on many Patent Deeds to come!
If any readers can enlighten us further as to these movements within IP Australia, we would love to hear from you.
Before You Go…
Thank you for reading this article to the end – I hope you enjoyed it, and found it useful. Almost every article I post here takes a few hours of my time to research and write, and I have never felt the need to ask for anything in return.
But now – for the first, and perhaps only, time – I am asking for a favour. If you are a patent attorney, examiner, or other professional who is experienced in reading and interpreting patent claims, I could really use your help with my PhD research. My project involves applying artificial intelligence to analyse patent claim scope systematically, with the goal of better understanding how different legal and regulatory choices influence the boundaries of patent protection. But I need data to train my models, and that is where you can potentially assist me. If every qualified person who reads this request could spare just a couple of hours over the next few weeks, I could gather all the data I need.
The task itself is straightforward and web-based – I am asking participants to compare pairs of patent claims and evaluate their relative scope, using an online application that I have designed and implemented over the past few months. No special knowledge is required beyond the ability to read and understand patent claims in technical fields with which you are familiar. You might even find it to be fun!
There is more information on the project website, at claimscopeproject.net. In particular, you can read:
- a detailed description of the study, its goals and benefits; and
- instructions for the use of the online claim comparison application.
Thank you for considering this request!
Mark Summerfield
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