The recent Federal Court decision surrounding Trident Foods Pty Ltd sends a warning to trade mark owners to exercise actual control over licensees or risk a messy non-use battle. The decision involved two appeals, one against a refusal to remove one of Trident Foods’ (TF) mark TRIDENT from the Register for non-use. The Registrar’s Delegate …
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Parallel imports, also called grey imports, are genuine goods imported into Australia by someone other than the trade mark owner or an authorised licensee. Grey goods are generally sold at a discounted price, or may be of a different standard or quality from goods intended by the trade mark owner for the Australian market. In …
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Recent legislative changes have removed a reporting burden from patentees applying for pharmaceutical extensions of term. Section 76A of the Australian Patents Act (the Act) was introduced alongside the pharmaceutical extension of term scheme in order to collect data regarding each granted extension. It was intended to assist in evaluating whether pharmaceutical extensions of term …
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The two key remedies sought by intellectual property owners in infringement cases are an injunction to stop the infringing conduct and compensation in the form of damages or an account of profits. Typically, the Court will determine the question of infringement separately and prior to considering what, if any, compensation should be awarded. In many instances …
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In what is a quite recent but unpublicised development, IP Australia now record “special” non-English characters (i.e. accented letters, umlauts, diaeresis and the like) for applicants and inventor names on new incoming patent applications. Until recently, an inventor named, for example, Åsa or Björn in a PCT national phase entry designating Australia would be recorded …
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Congratulations to University of Tasmania for winning both the KCA Research Commercialisation Award and People’s Choice Award at last night’s KCA Awards dinner! The University of Tasmania’s award-winning pitch revolved around a research project in rock lobster biology, and a subsequent commercial sublicense from UTAS that will see the world’s first commercial‐scale tropical rock lobster …
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The first interlocutory injunction restraining the launch of a biosimilar pharmaceutical product was granted by the Federal Court of Australia in a decision on 12 June 2018¹. Background The decision concerns the monoclonal antibody rituximab, a biologic therapy which is prescribed in Australia to treat a number of immunology conditions including lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia …
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A recent opposition decision of the Australian Patent Office¹ focused on the level of disclosure which is required in a patent specification to properly enable and support the claimed invention. This decision illustrates the importance of providing an enabling disclosure across the full width of the claimed invention and, where possible, providing a principle of …
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We hosted a morning tea in recognition of RSPCA Cupcake Day to raise much needed funds for the RSPCA. Cupcake Day is the sweetest opportunity of the year to raise money for animals in need, and all funds raised goes directly towards helping the abandoned, neglected and surrendered animals around the country that turn to the …
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Daffodil Day provides each of us the opportunity to work toward a future that is free of cancer, with all funds raised through Daffodil Day going to cancer research, prevention, support services and advocacy. This year, as part of our Community Contribution Program, POF employees generously volunteered their time to support Daffodil Day operating a …
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