Region: Australia

Innovation patents are a second tier form of patent protection in Australia. A patent monopoly is granted for eight years for globally novel ‘innovations’, an ‘innovation’ being the inclusion of a feature that ‘makes a substantial contribution to the working’ of the product or method. While this legislation remains untested in the Australian Court system, for many inventions which would not qualify as ‘inventive’ it is difficult to determine by what criteria they would qualify as ‘innovative’.

01 March 2007

Customs Services throughout the world manage and protect their countries’ borders, working to detect and deter the movement and trafficking of illegal goods such as illicit drugs, endangered species, nuclear/hazardous waste, weapons and goods which contravene the intellectual property rights (IPR) of third parties (counterfeit and pirated goods).

01 March 2007

The High Court of Australia hears appeals against the decisions of lower courts in Australia including the Federal Court of Australia. However, there is no automatic right to have an appeal heard by the High Court. The aggrieved party must apply for leave to appeal and persuade the Court in a preliminary hearing that there are valid reasons for the appeal to be heard.

01 December 2006

A brief review of the Australian Patent Office database has been conducted with the aim of gaining an understanding of nanotechnology patenting trends in Australia.

01 December 2006

There is no doubt that much of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, is contingent on there being a robust Intellectual Property (“IP”)system to maintain the value of innovative products. It is often the case, particularly in relation to start–up biotech companies, that IP is one of, if not the most important and major assets of the company.

01 December 2006

Now that the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement is in force intellectual property disputes and litigation events are expected to increase. In any court proceeding or opposition whether involving patents, trade marks, designs or copyright, one of the most critical aspects of the case is the preparation and filing of evidence.

01 September 2006

A recent case highlights the importance of correctly identifying inventors, and ensuring that applicants and patentees are legally entitled to the grant of a patent in Australia, especially in cases of joint applications arising from the contributions of multiple inventors.

01 September 2006

The Australian Government recently announced that it would be conducting a review of the disclosure requirements of the Franchising Code of Conduct. According to Government figures, franchising in Australia is an $80 billion industry that employs more than 600,000 people. The Federal Minister for Small Business and Tourism, Fran Bailey, states that franchising in Australia “is growing rapidly and an undoubted small business success story”.

01 September 2006

The unique behaviour of materials at the nanoscale offers countless opportunities. Where opportunities with potential industrial applications arise in the emerging field of nanotechnology, intellectual property considerations must be addressed at the outset. Relevant considerations include both the options for protecting inventions, and the risk of infringing the rights of others at the point of commercialisation.

01 September 2006

In the last week of March, the Australian Federal Government introduced into parliament the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill 2006. While the bill addresses a number of the intellectual property laws of the country, the most significant of these are to the Patents Act 1990.

01 June 2006