Background In October 2017, IP Australia released an Exposure Draft of the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Productivity Commission Response Part 1 and Other Measures) Bill (the draft Bill). The draft Bill follows a public inquiry by the Productivity Commission into Australia’s IP framework and seeks to implement a number of the Commission’s recommendations, together with …
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The infringement case in Nichia Corporation v Arrow Electronics Australia Pty Ltd (No. 4) [2017] FCA 864 turned on the meaning of ‘contains’ and illustrates the importance of such terms in claim construction under Australian practice. Background Nichia is the patentee of Patent No. 720234 filed on 29 July 1997 in relation to a light emitting …
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The Registrar of Designs in Apple Inc [2017] ADO 6 ruled that a design for a display screen is not a new and distinctive design because the display screen at rest, that is in the powered-off state, is simply a blank representation which therefore cannot be new or distinctive. The decision has formalised what was …
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The Australian Government recently released its response to the Productivity Commission’s (PC) inquiry into Australia’s intellectual property (IP) system. These recommendations include the significant change of abolishing Australia’s innovation patent system, further raising of the bar on the inventive step threshold for patents, and the replacement of existing exceptions to copyright infringement. Abolishment of the …
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Coffee, photovoltaics and smartphones don’t seem to have much in common. But this year’s just released World Intellectual Property Report examines the global value chains for each of these products and the role of intangible capital in these supply chains. As WIPO chief, Frances Gurry notes: Intangible capital – notably in the form of technology, …
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Indonesia has become a member of the Madrid Protocol allowing Australian businesses a second route to trade mark registration in that country. Australian businesses who already own an international trade mark registration should be able to subsequently designate Indonesia from 2 January 2018. Indonesia’s decision to join makes it the 100th member of the Protocol …
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Our clients may be interested to note that it will soon be possible to validate European patents in Tunisia. This new development applies in respect of European patent application or international patent applications (PCTs) designating Europe filed on, or after 1, December 2017, for which it will be possible to validate such European patents on …
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As the United Kingdom (UK) is withdrawing from the European Union, there is some uncertainty regarding what effect this will have on European Union IP rights such a trade marks, which currently extend to the UK as a member of the European Union. In a position paper issued on 6 September 2017, the European Commission …
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The case of Pham Global Pty Ltd v Insight Clinical Imaging Pty Ltd [2017] FCAFC 83 shows the importance of a thorough search of the names and marks of potential competitors before adopting a new trade mark. The facts Pham Global was sued by Insight Clinical for using the words “Insight Radiology” and a similar …
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