There are two types of "recognised exhibition" where inventors may exhibit their inventions without invalidating their subsequent patent application. Under reg 2.2, these are:

an official or officially recognised international exhibition; and
an international exhibition recognised by the Commissioner.

Official or Officially Recognised International Exhibition

An official or officially recognised international exhibition is one within the meaning of Article 11 of the Paris Convention, or Article 1 of the Convention Relating to International Exhibitions done at Paris on 22 November 1928.

Article 11 of the Paris Convention states:

"(1) The countries of the Union shall, in conformity with their domestic legislation, grant temporary protection to patentable inventions, utility models, industrial designs, and trademarks, in respect of goods exhibited at official or officially recognized international exhibitions held in the territory of any of them."

An exhibition will be official if it is organised by a State or other public authority, and be officially recognised if it has been recognised by such a State or authority. Moreover, the exhibition has to be international, i.e. it must include the exhibition of goods from another country.

Article 1 of the Convention Relating to International Exhibitions states:

"(1) An exhibition is a display which, whatever its title, has as its principal purpose the education of the public: it may exhibit the means at man's disposal for meeting the needs of civilisation, or demonstrate the progress achieved in one or more branches of human endeavour, or show prospects for the future.

(2) An exhibition is international when more than one State is invited to take part in it."

The convention also provides, in Article 6, for the registration of the exhibition.

Such exhibitions are organised on a Government-to-Government basis. The protection afforded to inventors for the display of their inventions is generally recognised internationally. The exhibition must be international, i.e. it must include the exhibition of goods from another country. Expo 88, which was held in Brisbane, is an example of an exhibition that was officially recognised under the corresponding provisions of the 1952 Act (see (1986) 56 AOJP 1022).

Case Law

The scope of the phrase ‘official or officially recognised international exhibition’ is discussed in Chiropedic Bedding Pty Ltd v Radburg Pty Ltd [2007] FCA 1869; 74 IPR 398. Although the legislation relevant to this case was the Designs Act 1906, the decision is applicable to interpretation of the Patents Act.

Finkelstein J was of the opinion that use of the word “official” was designed to draw a distinction between public and privately organised exhibitions. Thus, it was determined that the term ‘official’ exhibition implies that it must have been organised by a government authority.

Finkelstein J found that, in this case, the exhibition was “officially recognized” as it was funded by a grant from the Victorian government, and was opened by the Minister for Small Businesses.

Although Finkelstein J found that the exhibition was not “international”, as it did not have a significant foreign presence, this was ruling was overturned on appeal to the full Federal Court (Chiropedic Bedding Pty Ltd v Radburg Pty Ltd [2008] FCAFC 142; 79 IPR 1). Thus, an exhibition with even a small foreign presence of exhibitors can be considered an international exhibition.

International Exhibition Recognised by the Commissioner

International exhibitions recognised by the Commissioner are recognised by means of a notice published in the Official Journal before the beginning of the event. An exhibition may, for example, be officially recognised upon an application being made to the Commissioner by the organiser of the exhibition.

However, unlike the officially recognised international exhibitions, the protection afforded in Australia by the Commissioner recognising the exhibition will not necessarily be recognised in other countries. Thus, while inventors may be able to obtain a valid Australian patent after exhibiting their invention, exhibition of their invention at the exhibition may invalidate a patent in most other countries.

The procedures for obtaining recognition of an exhibition are provided on the IP Australia website (Patents Displayed at International Exhibitions).

Application of Section 24

In order to receive the benefit of sec 24, the following requirements must be met:

Exhibition Before 15 April 2013

Filing of Application

The application referred to in sec 24(1) may be either a provisional or complete application and must be filed within a certain period.

Where the application claims priority from a basic application, it must be filed within 12 months of the basic application, which in turn must be filed within 6 months of the first showing or use of the invention at the recognised exhibition.

In all other cases, the application must be filed within 6 months of the first showing or use of the invention.

Exhibition Details

At the time of filing the application, the applicant must file a notice stating that the invention has been exhibited.
Prior to the complete specification in respect of a standard patent application becoming open to public inspection, or within 6 months of the filing date of the complete specification of an innovation patent application, the applicant must file a statement issued by the authority responsible for the exhibition in which:
- the invention and the exhibition are identified; and
- the date of the opening of the exhibition is given; and
- where the first disclosure of the invention during the exhibition did not take place on that date - the date of that disclosure.

Exhibition On or After 15 April 2013

The application referred to in sec 24(1) must be a complete application and must be filed within a certain period.

Where the application claims priority from a basic application, it must be filed within 12 months of the basic application, which in turn must be filed within 6 months of the showing, use or publication of the invention at the recognised exhibition.

Where the application is associated with a provisional application, it must be filed within 12 months of the provisional application, which in turn must be filed within 6 months of the showing, use or publication of the invention at the recognised exhibition.

In all other cases, the application must be filed within 12 months of the showing, use or publication of the invention.

Publication of Invention

The publication of the invention must have occurred during the exhibition at which the invention was shown or used. However, the publication does not need to occur at the exhibition, i.e. an advertisement of the invention in a newspaper (for example) would be considered an appropriate publication for the purposes of reg 2.2, provided that publication was made during the recognised exhibition. However, brochures disclosing the invention and publicly distributed before the exhibition even though they may be in connection with the exhibition, would not fall within this requirement (see Steel & Co Ltd's Application [1958] RPC 411).