The Patents Amendment Bill received Royal assent on 5 June 2026. The resulting Patents Amendment Act 2026 is now in force and has amended the transitional provisions of the Patents Act 2013 (the 2013 Act) to raise the examination standards for newly filed divisional patent applications derived from earlier applications filed under the repealed Patents Act 1953 (the 1953 Act).
We discussed the changes proposed in the consultation draft of the Patents Amendment Bill in our previous article here.
To recap, the Bill was introduced to raise the examination standards for “daisy-chained” divisional patent applications tracing their origins to patent applications filed before the 2013 Act came into force on 13 September 2014. The Bill also expands the grounds on which third parties may challenge such applications during opposition, revocation, and re-examination proceedings. Although daisy-chained divisional applications can still be filed, the amended transitional provisions of the 2013 Act will, in these respects, treat them more like applications filed under the 2013 Act than under the 1953 Act.
Earlier commencement date
The consultation draft of the Bill proposed that the higher examination standards and expanded grounds of challenge would apply only to divisional applications derived from 1953 Act applications that were filed more than three months after Royal assent. However, some submitters considered this transition period overly generous, given that the 2013 Act replaced the 1953 Act for all other patent applications more than a decade ago.
As enacted, the Bill provides that the stricter examination standards and expanded grounds of challenge will apply to any divisional application derived from a 1953 Act application filed from the day after Royal assent, namely 6 June 2026. Divisional applications derived from a 1953 Act application filed before 6 June 2026 will continue to be examined under the less rigorous 1953 Act criteria and be subject to fewer grounds of challenge.
Likely effect on daisy-chained divisional applications
There are currently 71 divisional patent applications derived from applications filed under the 1953 Act which are under examination. That number is likely to decrease, as many of the advantages associated with filing further divisional applications from 1953 Act applications, including less stringent examination criteria and fewer grounds of challenge, have been eliminated.
End of an era
The examination standards under the 1953 Act have been applied by the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand for more than 70 years. The 1953 Act governed patent applications filed between 1 January 1955 and 13 September 2014 and continued to apply, in large part, to divisional applications derived from those earlier filings that were filed before 6 June 2026. The enactment of the Patents Amendment Bill has brought that regime to an end by harmonising examination standards for all newly filed divisional applications with the stricter requirements of the 2013 Act.
