'In Dei Gratia Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Patents [2024] FCA 1145 (Dei Gratia), the Federal Court of Australia dismissed an appeal by Dei Gratia and confirmed the decision of the Commissioner of Patents to refuse the patent application for ‘last mile logistics’. The claimed invention purported to facilitate the delivery of goods from the last point in a distribution chain to end consumers. By selecting a preferred local outlet, customers would be able to overcome delivery issues such as the need to be at home at a specific time and the protection of perishable goods that have been left at doors in high temperatures.

The decision shed light on the difference between an invention that aims to advance computer technologies and new business and logistic methods. To be patentable, the invention must be a “manner of new manufacture.” In other words, it “must be more than an abstract idea; it must involve the creation of an artificial state of affairs where the computer is integral to the invention, rather than a mere tool in which the invention is performed.”' https://www.iplawwatch.com/2025/03/31/last-mile-logistics-comes-to-the-end-of-the-road-dei-gratia-v-commissioner-of-patents-2024-fca-1145/ #patent #businessmethods #auslaw Decision: Dei Gratia Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Patents [2024] FCA 1145 (1 October 2024) https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FCA/2024/1145.html