Master manner of manufacture, overcome IP Australia rejections, and secure bulletproof patent protection for breakthrough software and AI innovations
Australian software and AI patent law has entered a period of doctrinal stabilisation following the Full Federal Court's decision in Aristocrat Technologies Australia v Commissioner of Patents [2025] FCAFC 131, with the High Court refusing special leave in February 2026. Together with IP Australia's updated Patent Manual of Practice and Procedure (March 2026) and the established inventorship principles confirmed in Commissioner of Patents v Thaler [2022] FCAFC 62, practitioners now operate within a clearer but more technically demanding framework for assessing eligibility and drafting enforceable claims.
This session provides a practical framework for prosecuting software and AI-related patent applications in Australia. It focuses on how to characterise the substance of computer-implemented inventions under the current manner-of-manufacture test, how to draft claims that withstand sufficiency and support scrutiny, and how to manage inventorship and entitlement where AI tools are involved.
The course also explores prosecution strategy across examination, opposition, and international filing pathways in a landscape where eligibility standards continue to diverge across jurisdictions.
Key Topics Discussed:
Australian patent eligibility for software and computer-implemented inventions
Implications of Aristocrat Technologies Australia v Commissioner of Patents (2025)
IP Australia’s updated Patent Manual of Practice and Procedure (March 2026)
Patent specification sufficiency and support requirements under section 40 of the Patents Act 1990 (Cth)
Inventorship and entitlement issues involving AI-assisted inventions
Patent examination, opposition, and international prosecution strategies
Differences in software and AI patent eligibility across jurisdictions
1 activity • 1 videos • duration: 1h 10m
Principal and ICT Patent Attorney | Jones Maxwell Smith & Davis
Dr Ronelle Geldenhuys is a registered Trans-Tasman patent attorney with more than 15 years’ experience in patent drafting, prosecution and strategy, with a focus on software, AI, electronics and telecommunications. Her career spans major firms, boutique practice and an in-house role at Breville. She is Secretary of FICPI Australia and a Fellow of IPTA. An electronic engineer with a PhD in electro-optics, Ronelle combines technical expertise with practical prosecution experience. She spent nine years lecturing in engineering before entering patent practice and now teaches in the Master of Industrial Property program at the University of Technology Sydney. Ronelle was instrumental in convening the Computer-Implemented Inventions Taskforce, a joint initiative of FICPI Australia, IPTA, AIPPI and IPSANZ. Its work includes proposed Patent Manual amendments, submissions and workshops with IP Australia’s examination leadership to align examination practice with current case law. Ronelle was invited to speak on Australian software patentability at the 2026 IPSANZ Annual Conference in Sydney and the 2026 NZIPA Annual Conference in Christchurch. Her international speaking experience includes plenary sessions at FICPI’s 2025 World Congress in Naples and 2026 Open Forum in Budapest. In addition to organising the conference plenary session in Budapest, she helped organise the first AI Patent Drafting Masterclass. Ronelle’s teaching draws on her experience as an engineer, educator and patent attorney, together with insights gained through the taskforce’s direct work with IP Australia on examiner training and examination guidance. She brings this practical understanding of how patent law is applied in practice to her teaching on software and AI patent prosecution.
