The examination of Australian standard patents is divided into two stages: formal examination and substantive examination.
After the application documents are submitted, if the application documents meet the formal requirements and the applicant has fully paid the application fee, the official will give the application number and application date. After passing the formal examination, the patent application will be published in the official announcement 18 months from the application date (referring to the earliest priority date when priority is claimed).
Before granting a standard patent, the applicant must submit a request for examination within 5 years from the date of application. If the examiner issues an examination opinion, the applicant can respond within 21 months by defending or modifying the patent specification. Regardless of the reason, if the applicant is unable to overcome the rejection within the prescribed time, they may submit a divisional application, while the original application can still proceed.
After there are no issues with the substantive examination, the application will enter the announcement period. Within 3 months from the date of announcement, anyone may raise objections to the application. If there are no objections or the objections are not valid, authorization can be obtained after the expiration of the announcement period.
The authorization period for Australian standard patent applications often takes 1-2 years, but there is an acceleration process in Australia, and after acceleration, the Australian invention patent (standard patent) certificate can be obtained within 4-6 months. Of course, it may also be longer.

Australian design implements a post registration examination system, which only conducts formal examination before registration and remains in a state of pending rights after registration. After registration, Australian design does not directly issue a certificate, and the applicant only has the right to mark the words "registered design" on the goods that use the design.
Only through substantive examination can the applicant obtain an examination certificate and assert exclusive rights to their design, including filing infringement lawsuits. In addition, anyone can request the design department to conduct a substantive examination of the design, that is, to examine its novelty and uniqueness. If it does not meet the requirements, the original registration will be cancelled.

The applicant needs to explain the reasons for requesting accelerated review, which generally include: the applicant belongs to a small and medium-sized enterprise with less than 200 employees· The invention application belongs to the field of green environmental protection technology· Commercialization decisions or investment needs· Technical licensing or sales requirements· The demand for rights protection (i.e. the existence of infringement issues). Australian authorities generally do not require evidence to support the reasons for the accelerated review request.
Accelerated review effect: In order to achieve accelerated review effect (actually accelerating the speed of issuing OA1), applicants can submit an accelerated review request at the same time as submitting their application. IPA will issue OA1 approximately 3 months after receiving the request for accelerated review. Therefore, submitting an accelerated review request can save at least 9 months of time. Afterwards, regardless of whether the application involves accelerated examination or not, the deadline for the applicant's response after receiving OA1 is the same as the response deadline for applications under the regular examination procedure, which is 12 months. Therefore, the applicant can achieve the effect of accelerating the subsequent review by quickly responding to the OA, and generally has a chance to obtain authorization within about a year.

In the revised patent law of 2020, Australia no longer grants patent rights for innovation patents from August 26, 2021. However, according to its transitional measures, innovation patents will still exist for a long time.
Innovation patents, also known as short-term patents (also translated as innovation patents), are similar to utility models in China and have a protection period of 8 years. Innovation patents can be authorized after passing formal examination. Unlike Chinese utility models, innovation patents can protect methods, including business methods, treatment and diagnostic methods, and so on.
In addition, similar to the practice in China, patent applicants in Australia can submit innovative patent applications at the same time as applying for standard patents, or apply for innovative patents in a divisional manner after applying for standard patents. In this way, on the one hand, the application process for standard patents can be followed, and on the other hand, the authorization for innovative patents can be quickly obtained in a short period of time, allowing for early exercise of rights. After the standard patent is granted, innovation patents can still be retained without giving up, even if the scope of protection is not completely the same.
However, despite the unique protection system provided by innovation patents as a type of patent right for many enterprises, this patent system has also brought some problems in practice due to its own characteristics. After extensive consideration of various opinions, the Australian government has decided not to accept new innovation patent applications from August 26, 2021. Due to the 8-year protection period of innovation patents, all innovation patents will expire no later than August 26, 2029, with August 26, 2021 as the deadline.