Consider Trade Mark Protection Beyond Australia The quotation “No Nation is an Island” has origins in the poem entitled “No Man is an Island” by my favourite seventeenth-century metaphysical poet, John Donne. The first two lines of the poem are “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main”. …
Australian Patent Office Opposition Update
On 12 October 2020, IP Australia handed down its decision in the Gliknik, Inc. v CSL Behring Lengnau AG [2020] APO 46 opposition in favour of the opponent (Gliknik) on the counts of insufficiency and lack of support. We explain this decision in further detail. Overview Despite the Raising the Bar Act (“RTB Act”) coming into full effect in April …
Hydrogen – Australia’s Next Export Success?
In Australia, industry and government interest in hydrogen is building, as a future major export and pathway to decarbonisation of the global economy. Hydrogen is the most common chemical in the world and has many uses such as fuel for transport or heating, a way to store electricity, or as a raw material in industrial processes. Hydrogen energy can be …
The Australian Federal Court Hands Down Its First Decision on Support Under the Raising the Bar Act
Merck Sharp & Dohme Corporation v Wyeth LLC (No 3) [2020] FCA 1477. In a recent decision concerning Wyeth’s Prevnar 13 vaccine patents, the Federal Court of Australia has handed down its first detailed consideration of the requirements of support under the Raising the Bar Act, and has confirmed that these requirements are indeed more onerous than the requirements of …
Coffee Capsules Dispute
The Australian Federal Court hands down its judgement: Caffitaly System Spa V One Collective Group Pty Ltd [2020] FCA 803. Caffitaly alleged that One Collective’s coffee single-use capsules infringed three of its patents, the 627 Patent, 121 Patent and 388 Patent. A single-use coffee capsule contains coffee granules. The coffee machine pierces the front and rear ends of the capsule, …
IP Australia’s COVID-19 Relief Measures
In view of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, IP Australia has decided to continue its streamlined process for requesting free extensions of time of up to 3 months until at least 31 January 2020. IP Australia is extending its COVID-19 relief measures to the end of January to give users of Australia’s IP system more certainty over the coming Christmas and …
Unfair Contract Terms – Upcoming Reforms and the ACCC’s Latest Enforcement Action
The unfair contract terms (UCT) regimes under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (ASIC Act) have been high on the reform and enforcement agenda over the last 12 months. Not only has the ACCC commenced proceedings against Fuji Xerox in the Federal Court alleging that its standard form small business contracts contain …
Australian Patentees’ Rights Exhausted
On 12 November 2020, the High Court handed down a landmark judgment affecting the rights of Australian patent owners. Up until this judgment, the position in Australia for over a century had been that anyone obtaining a patented product from the patentee had an implied licence to use it in accordance with ordinary rights of ownership of goods (the implied …
Women of Wrays
+ Patent & Trade Marks Attorney + Chemist + Avid tennis player & watcher What drew you to study STEM I loved Maths at school, and I was encouraged by my parents. There weren’t too many choices when I went to uni …
Women of Wrays
+ Lawyer & Trainee Patent Attorney + Physiologist + Singer What drew you to study STEM I was always interested in science from when I was a child. Learning how something works or why something is the way that it is, has always fascinated me. I always wanted to science at university, but my specific interest in life …