Benjamin McEniery - School of Law

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Lecturer

Project Manager, Peer-to-Patent Australia Project

BA (Computer Science) LLB (Hons) UQ LLM QUT
Admitted to practice as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia

Contact:

Tel: (07) 3138 2833
Fax: (07) 3138 2121
Email: b.mceniery@qut.edu.au

Ben is an intellectual property and patent law specialist who lectures in intellectual property law and real property law at the Queensland University of Technology. He has been awarded a Bachelor of Laws degree with Honours and Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Queensland and also holds a Master of Laws degree from the Queensland University of Technology. Currently, he is writing a PhD thesis entitled ‘Physical Effect in Patent Law’ which addresses the question of whether patent law contains a ‘physicality requirement’, that is, whether an invention must involve a physical aspect or cause a physical transformation of matter to be patentable subject matter.

Ben is also Project Manager of Peer-to-Patent Australia, an initiative run in collaboration with IP Australia that is designed to improve the patent examination process and the quality of issued patents by allowing community input in the patent examination process. Peer-to-Patent Australia makes use of an online web-based forum which facilitates public involvement in the patent examination process by allowing members of the public to identify and put forward prior art relevant to the assessment of novelty and inventive step in participating patent applications. He is also a member of QUT’s Intellectual Property: Knowledge, Culture and Economy research program.

Prior to joining the Faculty, Ben practised as a solicitor at national law firm, Clayton Utz, in the area of technology and intellectual property. He has also worked as a Senior Research Officer with the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee of the Queensland Parliament, where he was involved in the drafting of the 2004 Three Year Review of the Crime and Misconduct Commission.

Units currently taught:

• LWB243 Property Law A
• LWB486 Intellectual Property
• LWN099 Intellectual Property
• LWS007 Introduction to Intellectual Property Law

Research interests:

• Patent Law
• Copyright and related rights
• The Torrens system of land registration

Select publications

Intellectual Property Law

• Benjamin J McEniery, ‘The Federal Circuit in Bilski: The Machine-or-Transformation Test’ (2009) 91(4) Journal of the Patent and Trademark Office Society 253-271.
• Ben McEniery, ‘Storyline Patents: Are Plots Patentable?’ (2009) 33 Melbourne University Law Review 291.
• Ben McEniery, 'Patentability of Inventions That Do Not Involve a Physical Effect or Transformation: Lessons from the United States' (2009) 35(2) Monash University Law Review [forthcoming].
• Ben McEniery, ‘Patents for Intangible Inventions in Australia after Grant v Commissioner of Patents (Part 1)’ (2007) 13(2) Computer and Telecommunications Law Review 70. [http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00007006/01/7006.pdf]
• Ben McEniery, ‘Patents for Intangible Inventions in Australia after Grant v Commissioner of Patents (Part 2)’ (2007) 13(3) Computer and Telecommunications Law Review 100. [http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00007444/01/7444.pdf]

Real Property

• Ben McEniery, ‘A Dedicated Means of Giving Notice of the Existence of Unregistered Interests Under Torrens’ (2006) 12(3) Australian Property Law Journal 244. [http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00003748/01/3748.pdf]
• Ben McEniery, ‘Steps to Combat Mortgage Fraud’ (2006) 26 Qld Lawyer 238.
• Ben McEneiry, "Could the Land Tittle Act 1994 (Qld) be Further Amended to Better Protect Unregistered Interests?" (2006) 26 QLD Lawyer 240