Our most recent Patents articles are listed below:
12 August 2008
Review of patentable subject matter in Australia
The Advisory Committee on Intellectual Property (ACIP) released an issues paper in July on patentable subject matter in Australia, inviting submissions by 19 September 2008. The questions asked by the ACIP in the issues paper confirm and make clear that the question ‘What should be patentable?’ is a highly charged political issue.
29 July 2008
New Zealand: Patents Bill introduced to Parliament
Following the release of a draft Patents Bill in 2005, a new Patents Bill has now been introduced to the New Zealand Parliament for a first reading. The Bill will then be referred to a select committee.
02 June 2008
Atorvastatin in Australia: the latest from the Federal Court
On 28 May 2008 the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia handed down its decision in the appeal from the 2006 decision in Ranbaxy Australia Pty Ltd v Warner-Lambert Company LLC. This case involved two patents relating to the anti-cholesterol drug atorvastatin, which has been marketed very successfully for a number of years by Pfizer under the trade mark Lipitor.
13 May 2008
Patenting enantiomers – the Australian escitalopram decision
On 30 April 2008, the Federal Court of Australia publicly released its decision in Alphapharm v Lundbeck—a case that addressed a number of interesting issues involving patents for enantiomers.
01 November 2007
United States patent applications: Significant rule changes on the way
The much anticipated changes to the United States patent rules will come into effect on 1 November 2007, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) publishing the final form of the new rules on its website on 21 August 2007.
08 October 2007
Dr Gareth Forde wins Freehills Prize for Innovation
The inaugural Freehills Prize for Innovation has been awarded to Dr Gareth Forde from Monash University. Dr Forde received the award at the Young Engineers Forum at the recently held Chemeca 2007 conference in Melbourne.
09 February 2007
Changes to Australian claim acceptance fees
On 13 December 2006, the Intellectual Property Legislation (Fees) Amendment Regulations 2006 was signed by the Australian Governor-General, making one of the most significant fee changes introduced in respect of Australian patent applications.
22 September 2006
Springboarding and the Patents Act
The Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill was passed on 14 September 2006 and will become law within one to two months. We review the springboarding amendments as they effect the Patents Act and comment on the possible outcomes of these amendments.
21 July 2006
Full Federal Court rules on patentability of ‘asset protection method’
On 18 July 2006, the Full Federal Court issued its decision to dismiss an appeal against a decision to revoke an innovation patent for an ‘asset protection method’.
15 November 2005
Biotech/Pharma Patents Update Aug-Oct 2005
This update discusses amendments to the Therapeutic Goods Act, the case of courts assessing obviousness and the recent decision by the Federal Court concerning the alleged infringement of an Australian patent for an antitumor drug.
10 November 2005
New patent defence recommended for researchers
Whether or not experimental activities can amount to patent infringement has been a long-standing area of uncertainty under Australian law. On 9 November 2005, ACIP’s report to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources, Warren Entsch, was publicly released. It recommended that an experimental use exemption be included in the Patents Act 1990 (Act).
19 October 2005
Biotech/Pharma Patents Update
This update discusses recent developments in patents, including the US Supreme Court decision in Merck KGaA v Integra Lifesciences Ltd, Germany's legislative response to the European directive 98/44/EC, a possible error in the PatSearch database and Australia ranked twelfth in international patent filings.
24 June 2005
Biotech/Pharma Patents Update
This update discusses recent developments in patents including the effects of the Free Trade Agreement that is now in force, pharmaceuticals now patentable in India, PCT legislation changes and a key Viagra claim found to be invalid.
24 May 2005
Patent claims - sometimes they simply mean what they say
Justice Tamberlin reinforced in a patent decision handed down last week that Australian courts should take a common sense approach towards construing patent claims, rejecting the patentee’s arguments that the word ‘concrete’ in the patent claim could mean ‘plastic’.
18 April 2005
In substance an extension
A recent decision of a single Federal Court judge has the potential to expand the application of the extension of term provisions for Australian pharmaceutical patents.
18 April 2005
The problem with IP holding companies
It is not unusual for reasons including administrative efficiency, tax planning, or protection against insolvency to establish a company within a group to be the owner of all intellectual property owned by group companies.
18 April 2005
Lockwood Security Products Pty Ltd v Doric Products Pty Limited [2004] — The High Court locks down fair basis
The High Court’s decision in Lockwood Security Products Pty Ltd v Doric Products Pty Ltd [2004] HCA 58 on 18 November 2004 demonstrates that it is of fundamental importance for inventors and patent attorneys preparing patent specifications to distinguish the actual invention from preferred embodiment(s).
18 April 2005
New Zealand’s draft Patents Bill
After a lengthy and sometimes stalled review process which began over 20 years ago, the New Zealand Government finally released the draft Patents Bill 2004 (draft bill) on 20 December 2004. The draft bill eliminates some archaic provisions and seeks to bring the patents legislation into line with global norms. Indeed, many of the provisions in the draft bill are recognisable from the Australian Patents Act 1990. The draft bill was made open for public consultation but it is not yet known when the new legislation will come into effect.
30 December 2004
Will Australian researchers get a legislated exception to patent infringement?
The Advisory Council on Intellectual Property has followed up its February 2004 discussion paper on 'Patents and Experimental Use' with an Options Paper released on 9 December 2004.
24 December 2004
Pharma/Biotech Patents Update
This update discusses recent developments in patents including a Patent Office decision on nuclear transplantation techniques and a decision on IVF method.
