Patents trends - what are we seeing and what does it mean?

IP Australia has released the Australian IP Report 2025, which includes the latest data on registered IP rights in Australia, including patents. Patents provide a critical competitive advantage for companies that invest significantly in innovation and research and development. To capitalise on that advantage, the patent landscape in Australia and overseas needs to be well understood. In this article, we look at trends in patent filings and the businesses that are investing in patent protection. We also look at trends in prosecution before the Patent Office and the insights that come from Federal Court actions.

Filing trends

Total patent filings in Australia reached record levels during the COVID-19 pandemic but have since cooled. In 2024, 30,478 standard patents were filed in Australia, representing a 3.3% decrease from 2023 and a 6% decrease from the record high in 2021.[1]

Filings by overseas applicants, which accounted for 91.5% of all standard patent applications in 2023, has decreased, likely due to global economic uncertainty. The total patent application volume has remained above 30,000 for four consecutive years, indicating sustained high levels of innovative activity in the Australian market.

The life sciences continue to dominate. In 2024, the 5 top technology fields by volume were pharmaceuticals (3,565 applications), medical technology (3,274), biotechnology (3,149), organic chemistry (1,813) and civil engineering (1,554). There has been a slight reduction in filings in the major life sciences fields (such as pharmaceuticals and medical technology) in the last two years, which can be attributed to tighter economic conditions and a correction following the surge in R&D in health technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] However, biotechnology has been an exception to that downward trend. Australian domestic filings dominated the increase in the total applications in the field of biotechnology (rising 31.7%), with Chinese filings in the field increasing by 15.8%, French by 9%, Swiss by 3% and the US 2.5%.  

We have also seen significant patent growth in highly internationally competitive sectors, such as semiconductors, clean energy, and electric vehicles.[3]

Characteristics of businesses with high patent filing activity

2024 figures indicate that:

• The share of filings by Australian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has steadily increased over the decade, from 57.9% in 2014 to 62.9% in 2023.[5] This mirrors the phasing out of innovation patents in 2021. The innovation patent system was introduced in 2001 to provide a second-tier patent option with a lower threshold for inventiveness, particularly for SMEs. 
• The top Australian resident applicants included Aristocrat Technologies (73), Canva (44), and the CSIRO (37), while the top foreign applicants included LG Electronics (229), Huawei Technologies (196), US biotech Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (162), and Societe Des Produits Nestlé (161), Caterpillar (154).[6] Amgen Inc., also entered the top 10 patent filers in for 2024 with 113 applications, including for the use of predictive modelling to control biopharmaceutical processes.[7]
• US applicants have continued to dominate Australian filings by non-Australians; Americans filed 43.2% of all applications (which was a decline from 44% in 2023).[8]

A recent study commissioned by IP Australia found that younger businesses (fewer than 5 years old) are now more likely to file patents than mature businesses (6 to 9 years).[9] This likely reflects a focus of start-up activity in highly technical industries. The study also found that:

• (External R&D funding drives patent activity) Australian businesses file and are granted more patents when a greater share of their R&D funding comes from external sources, particularly venture capital (despite its traditionally narrow sectoral focus).
• (Collaboration is central to innovation): Over 40% of Australian businesses collaborated on innovation in 2020–21, a 10% rise since 2019, with domestic collaboration increasing despite a decline in international partnerships.
• (Prior patent activity predicts collaboration): Businesses with more patents in the preceding 3–5 years are more likely to collaborate with other businesses and universities, regardless of their location.
• (Ageing portfolios): While patent filings do not predict growth, unsurprisingly, ageing portfolios correlate with lower growth.[10]

How does this compare to other IP rights?

Trade mark applications increased by 6.6% in 2024 and applications for registered designs increased by 8.95% (to reach record filings).[11] An inverse trend for patents likely reflects economic challenges in the lead-up to 2024 where inflation, rising interest rates and weaker international trade adversely affected investment in research-intensive fields.[12]

Granting trends

The number of standard patents that were granted in 2024 jumped 23.8% to 19,276, the highest number of patents granted since 2017,[13] when applicants sought to bring forward examination requests to avoid the application of the Raising the Bar reforms that were introduced to improve the quality of Australian patents and align with US and European practices.[14]

Federal Court of Australia

In 2024, the number patent actions decided by the Federal Court of Australia (whether by a single judge or the full court) declined by 24.1% to 66. This continues the downward trend since 2018 when 142 patent cases were decided (a 53.5% decline).

For cases that were appealed to the Full Court or High Court, we also looked at how long they took (from the date the proceeding was first filed in the Federal Court to a final decision on appeal):  

• Most cases took between three and six years from filing to be finalised on appeal.
• Only one case was finalised on appeal in less than a year from proceedings being commenced (Sanofi-Aventis’s dispute with Alphapharm over Alphapharm’s launch of a SEMGLEE insulin glargine injection injector pen).
• Nine cases were resolved on appeal within two years from filing, 16 within three years.
• Seven took more than eight years from filing to be finalised on appeal.
• The longest patent proceedings to be finalised on appeal related to the grant of an injunction to restrain the launch of generic clopidogrel products that was overturned on appeal. The wrongfully granted injunction led to a protracted fight with the Commonwealth about whether the Commonwealth could claim $325 million in compensation from Sanofi for the increased cost to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (Medicare) that arose from the wrongfully deferred launch of generic clopidogrel products.