The importance of considering whether a patent should be amended prior to any Court proceedings being commenced has been reinforced by the decision of Bennett J in Apotex Pty Ltd v Les Laboratoires Servier (No 2)[2009] FCA 1019. Servier had initially applied to amend its then patent application under section 104. The amendments were allowed and …
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Technicon has been unsuccessful in its appeal against the decision of Cowdry J reported in which the trial judge found that Technicon had infringed Caroma’s registered design. The Full Court decision in Technicon Industries Pty Ltd v Caroma Industries Ltd [2009] FCAFC 76 largely affirms the reasoning at first instance and in doing so gives approval to what appears to …
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The practice of private company Adelaide City Fines in issuing parking tickets calculated to give the impression of being “fines” issued by an official body has been found to constitute misleading and deceptive conduct in breach of the Trade Practices Act in proceedings brought by the Corporation of the City of Adelaide.
The decision of Gordon J in LED Technologies Pty Ltd v Elecspess Pty Ltd[2008] FCA 1941 (handed down in December last year but only recently available) provides food for thought on a number of issues arising under theDesigns Act 2003.
The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) has changed the way that patent details for all Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications entering New Zealand national phase are captured. From December 2008, patent details for all national phase applications will be copied from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) database. The change in process means …
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Justice Virginia Margaret Bell (currently of the NSW Supreme Court) has been named as a Justice of the High Court of Australia, with effect from 3 February 2009. She will be the 48th person, and the fourth woman (and the third on the current court), appointed to the High Court since federation in 1901. She …
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Last Friday the High Court refused to grant special leave to appeal from the Full Federal Court decision in Austal Ships Sales Pty Ltd v Stena Rederi Aktiebolag [2008] FCAFC 121. The transcript of the special leave hearing can be found here. In relation to the Full Court’s finding that despite claim 1 being incorporated …
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On 5 July 2006 Review 2 Pty Ltd was registered as the owner of Design Registration No. 307708 in relation to ladies garments (“the Review Design”). This case considered whether Redberry Enterprise Pty Ltd (“Redberry”) infringed the Review Design and considered Redberry’s cross-claim that the Review Design was invalid. Kenny J found that the Review …
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While Australia has had a new Designs Act for over four years now, the previous Designs Act 1906 still has a significant role to play in respect of designs registered under that act. Caroma Industries Ltd v Technicon Industries Pty Ltd [2008] FCA 1465 illustrates the breadth of the infringement provisions of the 1906 Act. …
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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has shut down the ‘Designer Brand Outlet’ website. The ACCC alleged that false, misleading and deceptive representations were made on the website and that some of the clothes supplied were counterfeit copies. The ACCC release is here.
