Reform roundup

The big news in recent months, in terms of ALRC-related law reform, was the issue of the Australian Government’s formal response to the ALRC’s Final Report (tabled August 2004) for its inquiry into gene patenting, Genes and Ingenuity: Gene patenting and human health (ALRC Report 99), on 23 November 2011.

The Government’s response addresses recommendations from three reports: the 2010 Senate Community Affairs Committee’s report on Gene Patents, the 2011 Advisory Council on Intellectual Property’s report on Patentable Subject Matter, and the ALRC Report 99. The response accepts the majority of the recommendations in all three reports, including the ALRC’s recommendation to introduce a statutory research exemption into the Patents Act 1990