Australian High Court refuses to hear software patent appeal

Hardline position on patentable subject matter is maintained The High Court of Australia has dismissed an application for special leave to appeal from the RPL Central decision[1] of the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia. The Full Federal Court found that RPL Central’s invention was a simply scheme or idea implemented on a …
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‘POMMIEBASHER’: offensive or not?

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Australia and England’s sporting rivalries are legendary. Several Australian sporting identities are renowned for taking any opportunity to make an (affectionate?) remark that might unsettle one’s Imperial opponent. The word ‘POM’ or ‘POMMIE’ is a colloquial Australian word to refer to an English person, while ‘POMMIEBASHER’ refers to someone who is not of English background, …
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SourceIP: where business meets ideas

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The Australian Government has launched a digital intellectual property marketplace designed to provide Australian businesses with easy access to public sector research. SourceIP has been  developed by IP Australia, and provides a means for public sector patent owners to signal their willingness to license, sometimes at no cost, innovations in their key areas of technology. …
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Goodbye yellow: the end of the road for Telstra’s YELLOW trade mark?

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Who could forget the classic Australian ‘Goggomobil’, the HELLO YELLOW jingle or the ‘Let your fingers do the walking’ tagline? These advertising gems and cues, launched by leading telecommunications company, Telstra, bring to mind their ‘Yellow Pages’ directory. But when used in relation to print or online directories, does the word YELLOW alone give rise to such an association? Or in trade mark …
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The problems of delay in taking action

A series of cases, including Knott Investments Pty Ltd v Winnebago Industries, Inc [2013] FCAFC 59 (7 June 2013) have dealt with the tale of a US company and an Australian company that copied its foreign trade marks. In 2010, American company, Winnebago Industries, Inc. (Winnebago US), sued Australian company Knott Investments Pty Ltd and its dealers for passing off and misleading and deceptive …
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Star Wars: science fiction or science fact?

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Science fiction fans all over the planet hyperventilated with glee as The Force Awakens, the new instalment in the Star Wars saga, hit cinema screens in December 2015. The film introduced some new characters (thankfully none as bad as Jar Jar Binks in 1999’s The Phantom Menace) – one of which was a new robot droid, the BB-8. The BB-8 droid has a …
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New Victorian Government grant announced – The ‘Future Industries – Sector Growth Grant program’.

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The Victorian Government has just announced the Future Industries – Sector Growth Grant program. The Fund has been created to focus on increasing growth and developing high value industry sectors to further enhance Victoria’s competitive advantage by building on existing strengths in each industry sector. Sector strategies have been developed to support these growth areas …
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Inspire! – March 2016

This edition contains articles on: > Full Federal Court rejects patent for computer-implemented invention  > The problems of delay in taking action > Goodbye yellow: the end of the road for Telstra’s YELLOW trade mark? > Star Wars: science fiction or science fact? > ‘POMMIEBASHER’: offensive or not? > and more

12 signposts to stop your computer implemented inventions from going down the bad road of Non-Patentable Subject Matter in Australia

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The Australian Patent Office has updated their Patent Manual of Practice and Procedure on 1 February 2016 to include the following signposts to assisting you in determining whether a computer-implemented invention is now patentable. These signposts draw inspiration from the considerations of the judges in the recent Full Federal Court case of Commissioner of Patents …
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