Senator John Tierney, deputy chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, today described recent attempts to enforce the patent in New Zealand as "predatory" and has raised his concerns with industry Parliamentary Secretary, Warren Entsch.
The Liberal Senator for New South Wales has also issued a general warning that the patent represents a serious threat to the nation's e-commerce industry and revealed that he is prepared to seek new laws to protect Australian businesses from any attempt to enact it locally.
Tierney said the patent was set to become "a major issue" over the coming week and that he would be consulting closely with IP Australia over the next couple of days for preliminary advice on how to deal with the matter.
"What I find quite breathtaking is that something that is so broad in its methodology can actually be patented," said Tierney.
Filed in 32 countries by Canada-based D.E. Technologies or its principal Edward Pool, the patent describes a broad framework for a software design to electronically automate and transact paper exchanges involved in international commerce.
The patent created uproar in the United States and, more recently, in New Zealand where the first attempts to cash in on it have already been made.
Early this month, thousands of New Zealand businesses received letters demanding licence fees and transaction royalties--in some cases up to US$25,000--for conducting international business on the Internet.
The furore reached Australian shores Wednesday when a vocal member of the IT community, 29-year-old Matthew Tutaki, blew the whistle on the scheme, alerting the media that IP Australia was just days away from sealing the patent locally.
DET's Pool recently told a Montreal news daily that the company was "entitled to a royalty on international transactions done computer to computer. Those New Zealanders are using our technology, for heaven's sake, and they're going to pay or they're going to stop violating the 505284 patent."
The United States Congress attempted to block Pool's patent claim by introducing legislation that limited intellectual property claims encompassing widely used business process. However, Pool eventually succeeded in having his application accepted by US authorities late in 2002.
IP Australia is currently considering an application by Tutaki to extend the cooling-off period in which interested parties are given the opportunity to challenge the patent.
A spokesperson for IP Australia said an application to oppose the patent will be considered if the extension is granted.
Where's the patent number? Why pring an article on such an important topic without a link to the patent in question? I've poked around the IP Australia site for ages - can't find anything about this patent.
Lift your game ZDNet!!