Making a Submission under Section 27 or 28
If you think an invention is not patentable, we want to hear from you.

You may have information that we need to consider before the patent is granted or certified.

Under sections 27 and 28 of the Patents Act 1990 you may provide to the Commissioner of Patents at IP Australia information showing that an invention is not new (novel) or does not involve an inventive (or innovative) step.

What do Section 27 and Section 28 allow me to do?
Section 27 of the Patents Act allows you to give IP Australia a notice setting out reasons why you think an invention in a standard patent application is not novel or does not involve an inventive step. To be considered, the reasons and any supporting documentation must be filed before the date 3 months after a notice of acceptance of the application is published.

Section 28 allows you to provide a notice with reasons why an innovation patent is invalid because the invention is not novel or does not involve an innovative step. The reasons and any supporting documentation must be filed before the innovation patent is certified.

What information do I need to provide?
If you think the invention in a standard patent application should not be granted a patent or an innovation patent should not be certified, you can provide your reasons to the Commissioner.


Please send the following:

  • Your name
  • Your mailing address (as we will send you confirmation that your section 27/28 submission has been received and validated.)
  • Reasons why you think the invention is not novel or does not involve an inventive step.
  • Copies of any supporting documents, such as magazines or journal articles, which show the invention in existence before the application’s earliest filing date. It is not necessary to forward copies of patent specifications. For documents not in English, a copy of a translation and a certificate verifying the translation must be supplied. All attachments should be in Adobe PDF format if possible.
  • Do not attach documents that are subject to copyright, unless you own the copyright or have permission from the copyright owner. Instead you can send a URL link, or provide a reference or citation, to the document.
  • Please also provide evidence of the date and place of publication of any supporting document (if this is not apparent from the document itself).
Does it cost anything?
There is no fee to provide this information.
What happens to the information I provide?
IP Australia lets the patent applicant know that we have received your submission. We also let the applicant know about the referenced documents. Your submission will be added to the application file, will be OPI and will be considered during examination or, potentially, at re-examination.
The examiner may not agree that the information you provide is relevant or is sufficient to form the basis of a lawful objection. Consequently it may not be referred to by the examiner in their reports. You will also not be given reasons why your information is not considered relevant nor the opportunity to respond to submissions made by the applicant or patentee.
If you want to pursue an opposition to an application or patent you can do this separately.
Privacy Notice
IP Australia values your privacy. We collect your personal information, including your name and address, to enable us to process your submission and to monitor use of this service. Under section 55 of the Patents Act, your submissions and documents received under sections 27 and 28, including any personal information you provide, are Open to Public Inspection (OPI). This means this information is available to the public in hard copy or via our website.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle your personal information.

I want to make a submission under section 27/ 28:
To continue, please click on the following link.
Make a S27/28 Submission

This will open your email client so that you may begin preparing your submission.

Please note that this link will not be activated if you have a web-enabled email.
If this email link is not activated, you can email IP Australia at: MDB_OMW@ipaustralia.gov.au with the email title/subject “Making a Submission under Section 27/28”. Make sure your email contains all the information mentioned above in “What information do I need to provide?”.

If you prefer to mail your submission, our address is:

IP Australia,
PO Box 200,
Woden ACT 2606 Australia.

Thank you for participating in the patent process.

What happens next?
As a third party, you cannot be involved in discussions between the examiner and the applicant, even if they relate to your submission. You can however subscribe to our Notification Service to keep track of the patent application.