The question needs to be broken down into the different sections of a patent. By nature a patent should be done very early on in the R&D process in order to file the patent before the R&D that needs patenting actually occurs. The new knowledge search of the patent is the section that could be looked at when making a R&D tax incentive claim. By virtue of the patent looking to see if the same thing exists in the world, the new knowledge section of the R&D definition may possibly be utilised. Each claim needs to be looked at in its own merit when it comes to claiming patent expenses.