The Full Federal Court has recently considered what level of disclosure is needed in a patent specification in order that it “describes the invention fully” as required by Section (40)(2)(a) of the Patents Act 1990, prior to being amended by the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising The Bar) Act 2012. In Warner-Lambert Company LLC v …
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In Bohemia Crystal Pty Ltd v Host Corporation Pty Ltd [2018] FCA 235, Host Corp successfully revoked BCP’s trade mark registrations for BOHEMIA and BOHEMIA CRYSTAL on the basis that neither mark was to any extent adapted to distinguish goods including glassware, nor had they become factually distinctive by reason of their use. On the …
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Amazon has been named the world’s most valuable brand in Brand Finance’s Global 500 2018 Report. It tipped out Apple and Google for the prize. Locally, Telstra, the Commonwealth Bank and ANZ rounded out the Australian top three. On a regional basis, Mercedes-Benz ranks as Europe’s most valuable brand, Amazon as North America’s, the petroleum …
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As of 22 February 2018, many businesses operating in Australia must disclose certain data breaches under the Notifiable Data Breach Scheme. The NDB Scheme applies to all Federal Government agencies, business and not for profits with a turnover greater than $3 million, as well as all other businesses who collect personal information or provide health …
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With the Australian Grand Prix returning in March, Melbourne will once again play host to the fastest race cars in the world. For some, the race is the engineering Olympics. An action-packed sporting spectacular, each car on the grid representing decades of hard-fought improvements in material, mechanical, safety and software engineering all of which embodied …
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Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick client Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) has issued a statement welcoming the highly anticipated Federal Court decision in Meat & Livestock Australia Limited v Cargill, Inc [2018] FCA 51. The case concerned an appeal from the decision of the Australian Patent Office dismissing an opposition by MLA and Dairy Australia to the grant …
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The Convergence Science Network recently hosted a presentation evening on ‘The Science and Ethics of Genome Editing’, with POF team members Debra Yin Foo, Annabella Newton and Alexis Keating in attendance. The presentation focussed on CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspersed Palindromic Repeats), a tool that enables scientists to edit, remove or replace the genes of many …
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Brexit and the imminent launch of the European Unified Patent is likely to increase United Kingdom (UK) national patenting activity. It is worth reminding UK patent right holders of the recently enhanced UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) opinions service which shows potential as a low cost alternative to court revocation proceedings. The opinions service serves …
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The Federal Government has released draft legislation to amend the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). The draft is intended to give effect to recommendations made by Consumer Affairs Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) last year to strengthen consumer protection in Australia. The proposed changes include: Public companies will no longer be excluded from unconscionable conduct protections. …
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We are pleased to announce that POF has been listed as tier 1 in ‘Prosecution and Strategy’ in the World Trademark Review 1000 (WTR) 2018. WTR is a globally renowned guide that shines a spotlight on firms and individuals that are deemed outstanding in trade mark development, prosecution and enforcement. Firms qualify for a listing …
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