Authors: Judith Miller and Bindhu Holavanahalli A Bill to extend the unfair contract protections of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) for consumer contracts to standard form small business contracts passed the House of Representatives yesterday.[1] Major points Unfair contract term protections to be extended to small business Regime to apply to contracts where: At least one party employs less than …
Wrays welcomes Commercial National Practice Leader
Meet our newest team member, Judith Miller. Judith specialises in commercial and intellectual property law, and is based in our Sydney office. She has more than 25 years’ experience in advising clients such as Meat and Livestock Australia, Australian Wool Innovation, iSentia and Zoetis in various aspects of the management and commercialisation of IP. Taking the role of Commercial National Practice Leader, …
Rio Tinto Alcan and Norsk Hydro in patent opposition dispute
Author: Peter Caporn The potential importance and impact of prior third party use of an invention, together with careful attention to patent specification drafting, have been highlighted in a recent Australian patent opposition between Rio Tinto Alcan International Ltd and Norsk Hydro ASA [2015] APO 40 (Norsk Hydro is the patent applicant). In this Australian patent opposition decision, the full …
SEQTA wins business news rising stars award
We are thrilled that Wrays’ client, SEQTA took out the top spot at last week’s Rising Stars Awards for 2015. We’d like to extend a huge congratulations to the SEQTA team for this achievement. The Rising Stars Awards acknowledge the top 10 private companies in WA that have recently undergone rapid, successful growth. SEQTA software is an education-focused suite of web-based …
Effective management of SMEs
The 28th Annual SEAANZ Conference wraps up today in Melbourne. The conference was created to engage, inform and evolve businesses in the small to medium enterprise (SME) space. A snapshot of the conference themes included strategic management, commercialisation, product development, e-commerce and more. As advocates for fostering innovation and supporting SMEs, a partnership with SEAANZ was a ideal fit for Wrays. Check in on our blog …
The Batmobile, Kryptonite and Duff Beer: brand development and famous ancillary indicia
Using established ancillary indicia – things associated with a particular character, laden with goodwill, is a clever way of projecting a brand message. The hard work has already been done, after all: an audience recognises the brand immediately, and does not need to be taught what the brand means. A short list of ancillary indicia laden with goodwill might include: …
Collaborative intellectual property pooling: Neuron completes flight test campaign in France
The French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) and Dassault Aviation have successfully completed the flight test campaign for the Neuron unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) in Istres, France. The demonstration consisted of a series of flights along with presentation of the UCAV’s reliability and efficiency. According to Dassault’s press release, the Neuron managed to show exceptional availability and reliability during …
Start-ups: create a patent culture
Author: Paula N Chavez Congratulations to Alan Noble on the AFR coverage of StartupAUS today 21 April 2015, discussing its second Crossroads report which includes regulatory recommendations to bolster the Australia’s nascent start-up community. See here for more information. A topic typically overlooked in the start-up conversation, particularly in Australia, however, is that by creating a patent portfolio, a start-up can increase …
Australasian Law Awards – finalist
Wrays are proud to announce that we have been announced as one of six finalists in the Australasian Law Awards for 2015 IP Specialist Firm of the Year. The winner will be announced at the awards ceremony in May. Thank you to our clients and staff for their support.
Surface miners: how obvious is obvious enough?
Author: Peter Caporn Do you routinely search patent specifications? If not, the recent decision in Vermeer Manufacturing Company v Wirtgen GmbH [2015] APO 14 suggests that you should. Surface miners, such as those employed in the resurfacing of roads and in the mining of coal and friable iron ores, have been the subject of a recent decision of a Delegate …