The applicant, after considering the results of the search, may file amendments to the description and claims. However, these are not acted on immediately; rather the patent goes forward to publication in exactly the form in which it was filed. The only addition will be any new claims filed since then but prior to the completion of preparation of the application for publication. At this stage copies of the application are available to anybody who wishes to inspect or purchase them. The Patent Office file is also open to public inspection. Whatever subsequently happens to the application, the learning it embodies now becomes part of the state of the art. Up to this point, it would have been possible to withdraw the application and maintain the novelty of the invention (provided of course that no other disclosure was made). Likewise, the invention remains novel for the purposes of foreign applications up the time it is published. If a patentee files, say, an Australia application, more than 12 months later (so outside the priority period) but before publication of the Australian application he can file a new application in (say) the UK. It will not have the priority of the Australian application: but it can be used as the basis for new priority applications elsewhere, including the European Patent Office. The application as published will also include an abstract, a summary of the invention covering the main technical features. This too has to be supplied by the applicant. Like the claims and search fee the abstract has to be filed within 12 months of the application date if it is not filed at the same time as the rest of the application. Substantive examination and grant (s 18)

DOI link for The applicant, after considering the results of the search, may file amendments to the description and claims. However, these are not acted on immediately; rather the patent goes forward to publication in exactly the form in which it was filed. The only addition will be any new claims filed since then but prior to the completion of preparation of the application for publication. At this stage copies of the application are available to anybody who wishes to inspect or purchase them. The Patent Office file is also open to public inspection. Whatever subsequently happens to the application, the learning it embodies now becomes part of the state of the art. Up to this point, it would have been possible to withdraw the application and maintain the novelty of the invention (provided of course that no other disclosure was made). Likewise, the invention remains novel for the purposes of foreign applications up the time it is published. If a patentee files, say, an Australia application, more than 12 months later (so outside the priority period) but before publication of the Australian application he can file a new application in (say) the UK. It will not have the priority of the Australian application: but it can be used as the basis for new priority applications elsewhere, including the European Patent Office. The application as published will also include an abstract, a summary of the invention covering the main technical features. This too has to be supplied by the applicant. Like the claims and search fee the abstract has to be filed within 12 months of the application date if it is not filed at the same time as the rest of the application. Substantive examination and grant (s 18)

The applicant, after considering the results of the search, may file amendments to the description and claims. However, these are not acted on immediately; rather the patent goes forward to publication in exactly the form in which it was filed. The only addition will be any new claims filed since then but prior to the completion of preparation of the application for publication. At this stage copies of the application are available to anybody who wishes to inspect or purchase them. The Patent Office file is also open to public inspection. Whatever subsequently happens to the application, the learning it embodies now becomes part of the state of the art. Up to this point, it would have been possible to withdraw the application and maintain the novelty of the invention (provided of course that no other disclosure was made). Likewise, the invention remains novel for the purposes of foreign applications up the time it is published. If a patentee files, say, an Australia application, more than 12 months later (so outside the priority period) but before publication of the Australian application he can file a new application in (say) the UK. It will not have the priority of the Australian application: but it can be used as the basis for new priority applications elsewhere, including the European Patent Office. The application as published will also include an abstract, a summary of the invention covering the main technical features. This too has to be supplied by the applicant. Like the claims and search fee the abstract has to be filed within 12 months of the application date if it is not filed at the same time as the rest of the application. Substantive examination and grant (s 18)