Category Archive

This week (6-12 June) is Australian Made Week, a time to celebrate and support Australia’s local makers and growers all around the country. Australian Made Week features events across a number of industries, including technology, Indigenous business, agriculture and e-commerce. Consumers will be encouraged to prioritise purchasing Australian made products and to actively seek out the Australian Made, Australian Grown …

Join Wrays Principal, Mary Turonek in a 45 minute webinar from Austmine: R&D Projects & IP Governance – The Essential Guide for the METS Sector. Mary discusses – Why you need to include IP in your project planning process. Learn how to identify and mitigate your project risk How to identify IP elements in your project Check lists – both …

The Franchising Code of Conduct (Code) is a mandatory industry code across Australia that regulates the conduct of franchisors and franchisees towards each other. The Code regulates many aspects of the franchising relationship, including pre-contractual and ongoing disclosure requirements, resolution of disputes, and procedures for ending a franchise agreement. The Code also requires current and prospective franchisees and franchisors to …

The following article provides an update on IP filing trends in New Zealand over the last 4 calendar years, from CY2016 to CY2020. Interestingly, total patent applications filed by both foreign and local NZ residents have remained largely steady while patent applications filed by only local NZ residents have actually decreased. New Zealand-based appliance company, Fisher & Paykel and Californian-based …

A recent report from IP Australia’s Office of the Chief Economist has considered the role of trade marks on the export behaviour of 9,000 Australian manufacturers spanning the period 2005 to 2017, when faced with sudden changes to market conditions. Three export behaviours including entry to an export market, export revenue and the diversification of products offered to the export …

The following article provides an update on the Australian Government’s Modern Manufacturing Strategy and how the funding initiatives can aid businesses in this modern manufacturing sector. What is it? The Modern Manufacturing Strategy (the Strategy) is the Australian Government’s action plan for Australia to be recognised as a reliable, high-quality and sustainable manufacturing nation. The Strategy is aimed to not …

Not All Grace Periods Are Created Equal What’s a Grace Period? The Australian Patents Act 1990 and regulations provides a number of circumstances in which a ‘grace period’ can be relied upon in a defence to alleged lack of novelty and/or inventive step. That is, there are some things that you can do with your invention before you file a …

Last year, the Australian Federal Court issued its decision concerning the Prevnar 13 vaccine in Merck Sharp & Dohme Corporation v Wyeth LLC [2020] FCA 1477 (Prevnar 13 AU). This year, the Federal Court of Canada decided very similar questions in Merck Sharp & Dohme v Wyeth Canada Inc 2021 FC 317 (Prevnar 13 CA). While the cases are interesting …

We recently sat down for a chat with Wrays’ Senior Associate, Tyson Keed. Tyson told us about his background and interest in science and talked us through his journey into intellectual property. Tyson, before joining Wrays in 2010 you first studied nanotechnology. Did you do that with the intention of working in intellectual property? Not at all, in fact, I …