On Wednesday 9 September, POF held a morning tea to recognise and promote ‘R U OK? Day’ – a national day to facilitate social awareness and promote meaningful connections at work. R U OK? Day is a national day of awareness about facilitating connectedness in society, so that those who need help feel they can …
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We are pleased to announce that two of our clients have been shortlisted as finalists in the Australian Technologies Competition 2015. The Australian Technologies Competition recognises Australia’s leading companies in the technology sector. The awards are presented to those who are deemed to have the greatest potential to deliver gains in efficiency and increased competitiveness …
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Myth 1 You need to register copyright. Reality In Australia, and many other countries, you can’t register copyright because there is no register. Even in countries such as China and the United States where there is a register, you can enforce your copyright without registration, although there are advantages in having a registration when suing infringers. Myth 2 You can protect your idea …
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You may have been following the saga of the makers of the movie Dallas Buyers Club trying to recover compensation from Australian individuals who had been sharing the movie over the BitTorrent network on the basis that they have been infringing copyright. But if you haven’t, here’s a summary. The Story So Far Dallas Buyers …
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Registered designs protect the overall appearance of products resulting from their visual features. Whilst it is the appearance rather than the functionality of a product which is protected, a functional product may nevertheless be the subject of design registration. Indeed, section 7(2) of the Designs Act 2003 specifically provides that a visual feature may, but need not, serve a functional purpose. The recent decision …
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POF client Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), has recently signed a landmark collaboration agreement with Chinese company Beijing MCC Equipment Research and Design Corporation Ltd (MCCE) for the mineral resources flagship dry slag granulation (DSG) technology. The new agreement and co-operation mark a heightened level of collaboration and interest in CSIRO technologies and expertise from China, which has the largest mining and mineral processing …
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One of the objectives of the Australian innovation patent system is to stimulate innovation in Australian small to medium enterprises. An innovation patent requires a lower level of innovation than the standard patent and provides an eight-year monopoly and equal remedies to a standard patent, and has a number of benefits, as discussed in our …
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Innovation patents were introduced over 10 years ago, and continue to provide a powerful tool for patentees in Australia. It is the low validity level of innovation patents which provides benefit to patentees. However, there are additional benefits including the speed of grant and the relatively low cost involved. What is an innovation patent? Innovation patents can protect innovations or developments that would …
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Australia has seen its fair share of intellectual property law reform over the past few years, with the ‘Raising the Bar’ legislation1 in 2012, and major reviews of the Innovation Patent System, the Copyright system and now the Designs system. While changes from these reforms are still some time away, we can see there is …
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On 1 July 2015, an Entrepreneurs’ Infrastructure Programme was launched by the Federal Government with the aim of driving business growth and competitiveness by supporting business improvement and research connections. The Programme hopes to achieve these goals through providing small businesses with advice and guidance from experienced Business Advisers. In addition, there is also $20,000 …
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