Mallesons IP Whiteboard - Latest news in copyright, trade mark and patents law from Australia and around the world

The Commonwealth Government has recently amended the Patents Regulations to increase the fees IP Australia charges for its services in relation to patent filings and related proceedings.  read more »

The Chief Justice of the Federal Court has issued a new Practice Note which applies to Federal Court proceedings under the Patents Act 1990.  The Practice Note is to be applied flexibly to promote the efficient identification of issues and improve facilitation in the trial process.  It commences on 1 July 2010.  Click here for a copy.  read more »

A majority of the US Supreme Court handed down a decision yesterday which draws a fuzzy line between valid patents which claim business methods and invalid ones which merely claim abstract ideas.  The decision, Bilski v Kappos, can be found here.  read more »

The saga between the University of Western Australia, Sirtex Medical Ltd and Dr Bruce Gray appears to be drawing to a close.  The Federal Court has now determined that  Sirtex is entitled to recover just under $3 million in damages from its former director and shareholder, Dr Gray.  Click here to access the decision.  read more »

As a result of reports that patent applications for yoga positions have been lodged in the US, the Indian Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) has once again focused its attention on reviewing hundreds of ancient texts to provide evidence of India’s traditional knowledge in the field of yoga.  Previous attempts at this task have provided unsatisfactory results.  However, they are now trying again – by videoing the yoga positions that are set out in these texts.   read more »

An amici curiae brief has been filed by a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School on behalf of 86 other professors of Law, Economics, Business and Public Policy in relation to the appropriate treatment of reverse settlement agreements.  The professors seek to be heard by the Full Court of Appeals in their review of reverse settlements of patent disputes, which involve the patentee paying a would-be infringer to stay out of the market, and to not challenge the validity of the patent.  read more »

In March, we blogged on the decision of a US district judge which held that patents directed to the detection of inheritable breast cancer were invalid (click here to read our earlier post).  Hot on the heels of the US decision comes an attack on the validity of Myriad Genetics' Australian patent for the gene mutation BRCA1 (commonly known as the breast cancer gene).  read more »

Further to our 18 May post in relation to the FTC’s anti-trust case against Cephalon in relation to the reverse settlement of a patent dispute over Provigil, a US Court of Appeals has taken the unusual step of inviting an appeal to the Full Court of Appeals for consideration of the “difficult questions at issue and the important interests at stake” when considering reverse settlement agreements.   read more »

The case of Delnorth Pty Ltd v Dura-Post (Aust) Pty Ltd illustrates the successful use of innovation patents to address patent infringement where the standard patent application has not yet proceeded to grant. The innovation patent system has enabled patentees to take infringement action much earlier and thus better protect their market.  Using the Delnorth proceedings as a case study, Mallesons' Shyama Jayaswal examines the strategic utility of the innovation patent system here.

A US District Court has refused an application by Cephalon to dismiss a case brought against it by the FTC in relation to the settlement of a patent dispute between Cephalon and would-be generic manufacturers of Provigil (modafinil), a drug used in the treatment of sleep disorders which recorded $961 million in sales in 2009 alone.  read more »