Nothing really new here. The Court says it is not its intention to develop the law in any way, and its just all application of existing principles.
Here's part of the judgment that makes me really sad (emphasis added):
[66] Although the recognition of the need to identify an "inventive idea" justifying a monopoly is not new in Australia[103], the developments in the United Kingdom, which emphasise the need to identify the "inventive concept" in terms of "problem and solution", have raised the threshold of inventiveness. This has been exemplified by a number of relevant English cases since 1977[104].Yes, I did know that the merest "scintilla" of invention is capable of sustaining a patent, but still, one could hope. Especially following the KSR judgment in SCOTUS!
[67] Such developments were considered and distinguished in Alphapharm[105]. This Court rejected confining the question of obviousness to a "problem and solution" approach, particularly with a combination patent. This should not be misconstrued. The "problem and solution" approach[106] may overcome the difficulties of an ex post facto analysis of an invention, which may be unhelpful in resolving the question of obviousness[107]. However, it is worth repeating that the "problem and solution" approach may be particularly unfair to an inventor of a combination, or to an inventor of a simple solution[108], especially as a small amount of ingenuity can sustain a patent in Australia. Ingenuity may lie in an idea for overcoming a practical difficulty in circumstances where a difficulty with a product consisting of a known set of integers is common general knowledge[109]. This is a narrow but critical point if, as here, the circumstances are that no skilled person in the art called to give evidence had thought of a general idea or general method of solving a known difficulty with respect to a known product, as at the priority date.
