Lee Melissa: Patents (Trans-Tasman Patent Attorneys and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeLee Melissa: Patents (Trans-Tasman Patent Attorneys and Other Matters) Amendment Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 09 February 2016. Volume:711;Page:8808. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MELISSA LEE (National): I would like to thank the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs for bringing this bill to the House and I commend the member who just sat down Clayton Cosgrove. He speaks sense and it is a great opportunity to speak in support of the first reading of the Patents (Trans-Tasman Patent Attorneys and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. Before I go on Mr Deputy Speaker I would like to wish you a happy New Year especially since yesterday was the Lunar New Year for the Chinese and Koreans and many many nations that actually celebrate the Lunar New Year. I would like to say kung hei fat choy xin nian kuai le and se hae bok mani baduseyo which actually mean “May you receive lots of blessing and luck for the new year.”It is the Year of the Fire Monkey. Monkeys are born this year or they turn 12 24 36 48 or 60. They do actually say that those who are born in the Year of the Monkey especially in the fire monkey year should avoid the colour red. [Interruption] Apparently so. Anyway that was a little bit of trivia there for you Mr Deputy Speaker.Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Anyway.MELISSA LEE: The bill as it has been put to this House is fairly straightforward. It is to deal with matters arising from the current application of the Patents Act 2013. The bill will also align as other members have said the patent system more closely with that of Australia and will better reflect our closer economic relations through integrating trans-Tasman regulations. When passed this amendment legislation will be the first major update to the way our patent law profession has operated in over 60 years. In doing so it will strengthen our reputation as a good place to do business and will reduce costs for applicants. I think the previous speaker the Hon Clayton Cosgrove actually talked about the reduction in costs. When you are making only one application that is actually going to both countries instead of having to do both—one in New Zealand and one in Australia—instinctively you would think that the costs would be less for those businesses that are wanting to register their patents.It is important to remember that New Zealand patents are the intellectual rights that are granted for an invention of an individual or a company or group that has created a new product or process. Patents cover a variety of areas and can include new products processes or ideas. I am sure that we have seen court cases dealing with both Apple and Samsung which have intellectual property. They were trying to protect their inventions. I know that New Zealand inventors and New Zealand writers protect their work and creative output through copyright as well as their inventions through patents and I think protecting our creations is very very important.This bill will make three main changes to the 2013 Act. It amends the grounds on which a person can oppose the grant of a patent under the Patents Act 2013 and proposes a single patent application process and a joint registration. As I have just explained you do not have to do it in both New Zealand and Australia. You can do it in just one and it goes to both Australia and New Zealand. The first change proposed in the bill will be an amendment to the Act “to explicitly exclude lack of unity of invention as a ground of opposition.” during the pre-grant process. “Unity of invention” is a term used whereby a patent application can be applied to only one invention or a series of close or interrelated inventions. Under the current wording there is the potential for an interpretation of “unity of invention” to be used as a ground to object to a patent application. The 2013 Act introduced this ground of opposition into the pre-grant process by allowing “a grant of a patent to be opposed on the ground that an accepted patent application claims patent protection for more than 1 invention”—a wording that was unintended when the 2013 Act was actually legislated. I know it is a little bit confusing.The second and third changes introduced by this bill deal with consolidating and better applying existing laws between our two nations. The single economic market programme will support a single patent application that will establish a single application portal where applicants can file one set of documents and pay one fee. As I said earlier that basically means that we will reduce the costs in my view.I look forward to the submission process in the select committee. I believe this is a good bill and I commend it to the House.