2.5.1.4.1A Prior Art Base

Date Published

Note: The information in this part only applies to standard patent applications with an examination request filed on or after 15 April 2013.  For all other standard patent applications, see 2.5.1.4.1 Prior Art Base.

The prior art base for inventive step is a subset of the prior art base for novelty (see 2.4.4.1A Prior Art Information). It includes all prior art forming the prior art base for novelty, except for Australian patent documents which can only be used for an objection of lack of novelty on a "whole of contents" basis.