Inspire December 2020
Welcome In our final edition of Inspire
for 2020, Magda Bramante
explains how a case about
recycled printer cartridges led
the High Court to overturn 100
years of patent law precedent
and abandon the theory of an
implied license in favour of the
doctrine of exhaustion of rights.

Liz Eadie of CSIRO provides
us with some insights into
how the organisation has been
dealing with the challenges
of 2020 and its vision for
the future of Australian
science and innovation.

Russell Waters looks at
the issues which can arise
when a person adopts their
name as a trade mark as
well as the difficulties in
proving that reputation in
a trade mark extends to
goods or services outside a
business’s core activities.

Finally, Melissa Wingard
highlights some pitfalls that
can arise when technology
makes use of biometric data
and Mark Williams explores the
surprising patenting prowess of
rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen.

2 Adrian Crooks, Principal
BEng(Civil)(Hons) LLB LLM FIPTA
adrian.crooks@pof.com.au 2020 has been a difficult year for many,
but green shoots can be seen. Reports of
vaccines being available early next year are
encouraging. In Australia, business confidence
is returning as we shift our country’s focus
to efforts that support returning to work.

The global economy has been
severely impacted by COVID-19.

Governments around the world
are now reflecting upon global
supply chains, and the need to
strengthen local manufacturing.

The Australian Federal Government
on 1 October 2020 announced a
renewed focus and A$1.5 billion
investment in manufacturing, in
particular in the target areas of
resources technology and critical
minerals, food and beverages,
medical products, recycling and
clean energy, defence and space.

In many technology-driven
companies, COVID-19 has simply
accelerated existing industry
trends. Whilst there has been
growth in business activity in
the IT, telecommunications and
biotechnology sectors, many
companies in the transportation and
energy sectors have been hard hit.

Like many organisations, COVID-19
has changed the way we at Phillips
Ormonde Fitzpatrick think about
work. The first time COVID-19
became a focus for us was in early
February this year. By mid-March, we
had set-up a COVID-19 Response
Team, and two weeks later had
100% of our people working from
home. Most of us have been working
remotely for eight months now with
no disruption to our business activity
and no drop-off in client service.

Our staff have been simply amazing.

Frequent and open communication,
involving our staff in our decision
making, and taking steps to preserve
our culture and connectedness
have been key to our strategy.

At the time of writing, Australia has
effectively suppressed community
transmission of COVID-19. The way
we live and work in Australia is now
rapidly moving to a new COVID
normal. We are now developing a
hybrid model that lets our principals
and staff split their time between
the home and office. This has
upsides in terms of productivity,
work-life balance, and mental health
considerations for our people, while
still providing the in-office social
interaction and collaboration with
workmates that is so important.

Our thoughts and best wishes go
out to our colleagues and friends
around the world where sadly
it appears likely that COVID-19
will cause significant harm and
disruption for much of 2021. We
remain focused on helping to
support your business goals
during these difficult times, and on
ensuring that we continue to have a
talented team and efficient systems
to deliver great outcomes for you.

We look forward to working
with everyone next year and we
wish you a safe festive season
and a much happier 2021.

Our offices will close at 3pm (AEDT)
on Thursday 24 December 2020. We
will reopen with a limited number of
staff on Monday 4 January prior to
a full reopening on 11 January 2020.

Ross McFarlane | Managing
Principal BEng(Elec)(Hons) FIPTA
ross.mcfarlane@pof.com.au
2020: A year of
transformation