feature article descriptions

Success at NSI Awards
Presentation of the 2009 NewSouth Innovations Inventor of the Year Awards took place on Thursday 23rd April 2009. These awards celebrate the success and achievement of inventors at the University of New South Wales, and also Australian Defence Research Establishment in Canberra. Two of the three categories of the Awards were won by inventors that Griffith Hack has had the pleasure of being associated with as far as providing protection for their IP is concerned.
Tim Staley

European Commission Delivers Preliminary Report
In January 2008 the European Commission commenced an inquiry into EU pharmaceutical markets to explore the reasons for the lack of novel medicines entering the market, and instances of delayed market entry of generic medicines. On 28th November 2008 the Directorate General for Competition handed down its preliminary report. The inquiry involved an investigation of a sample of 219 medicines monitored from 2000-2007 and provides a factual basis for deciding whether reform is needed to promote more healthy competition in this multi-billion dollar market.
Wayne Condon

Senate inquiry into Gene Parents
The Senate Community Affairs Committee announced an inquiry into Gene Patents to be conducted and reported before the last sitting day of 2009 (26 November 2009). The inquiry seeks to determine the impact of granting patents over; human and microbial genes, non-coding sequences and proteins and their derivatives including isolated forms.
Wayne Condon

The patentability of enantiomers where the racemate forms part of the prior art
The recent decision of the Federal Court of Australia in Apotex Pty Ltd (formerly GenRx Pty Ltd) v Sanofi-Aventis [2008] FCA1194 considered the novelty and inventiveness of claims to a particular enantiomer of a compound, where the racemic mixture was disclosed in an earlier patent. Justice Gyles found that the claims to the enantiomer lacked novelty and were obvious, while the claims to particular salts of the enantiomer were held to be novel and inventive.
Wayne Condon and Jacky Mandelbaum

Attacking patents on the basis of the patentee’s false suggestion or misrepresentation
The Full Federal Court has recently considered the issue of the construction of claims to a chemical formula defined by an unlabelled stereochemical diagram. The Court has also provided further guidance on the false suggestion or misrepresentation ground for revoking a patent.
Wayne Condon and Jacky Mandelbaum

UK Law on Inventive Step moves towards Australia
The UK House of Lords handed down judgment in Conor Medsystems Inc v Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc on 9 July 2008. The leading judgment was delivered by Lord Hoffmann and the highest appeal court in the UK has taken the opportunity to retreat from the “obvious to try” test for inventive step that has recently figured prominently in many of the UK judgments on inventive step.
Wayne Condon

Life Sciences News 08-07-08

Global - Another strike against patent evergreening in India

UK - Patent Research Exception

Australia - Imminent changes to Australia’s drug pricing regime
Wayne Condon

 

Guidance on Australia’s data exclusivity regime
Wayne Condon discusses the attraction of the Australian pharmaceutical market and explains the significance of the Alphapharm Pty Ltd v H Lundbeck A/S [2008] FCA 559 recent decision.
Wayne Condon

 

Copyright in Television Programme Guides – Indirect Copying
The recent Australian Full Federal Court decision in Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd v IceTV Pty Ltd [2008] FCAFC 71 provides an interesting perspective on compilation copyright and indirect copying.
Wayne Condon and Eliza Saunders

 

IP in Business Transactions 2008/09 'Law Firms and Lawyers'
In the latest 2008/09 PLC Cross-Border handbook (IP in Business Transactions - The law and leading lawyers worldwide), Griffith Hack has been nominated as one of the highly recommended IP firms for patent litigation and a recommended firm for commercial IP in Australia. This handbook identifies the leading private practice lawyers and law firms in the intellectual property areas across 55 jurisdictions. .
Wayne Condon

 

A Sharp Lesson for Universities and Employee Created IP
The recent Federal court decision in UWA v Gray1 addresses several pertinent issues relating to the ownership of intellectual property which is developed in the course of or incidental to employment. This case specifically deals with the ownership of patentable inventions created by academics while undertaking research.
Wayne Condon

 

IP in Business Transactions 2008/09 (Part 1. Country Q&A: Australia)
IP in Business Transactions 2008/09 (Part 2. Main IPRs: Australia)
A Q&A guide to IP in Business Transactions in Australia. Originally published in the PLC Cross-border Transactions Handbook 2008/09, this two part article offers practical information on maintaining an IP portfolio, exploiting an IP portfolio through assignment and licensing, taking security over IPRs, IP and M&A transactions, and the impact of IP on key areas such as competition law, employees and tax.
Wayne Condon

 

Providing Search Results to the Australian Patent Office
At very short notice the Patents Regulations in Australia have been amended to remove the requirement to provide search results for most pending Australian patent applications (Patents Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 1)). This amendment came into effect on 22 October 2007.
Griffith Hack

 

Great Brands - Treat Them Right or Lose them
Once a brand owner has established rights in a brand, it is important that steps and precautions are taken to ensure that such rights are not diminished or lost completely.
Chris Sgourakis

 

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