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

In a recent decision (Monsanto Technology LLC v Cefetra BV and Others), the Court of Justice of the European Union declared that patent protection for gene patents will only extend to gene sequences which are performing the specific function for which they were patented.  The decision of the Court is the first-ever judicial assessment of the extent to which European patent law will protect gene patents.  read more »

The European Commission’s Directorate General for Competition has recently released its First Report on the Monitoring of Patent Settlement Agreements (the “Report”).  The release of the Report comes less than a week after a decision of the EU General Court confirming a decision of the Commission to fine AstraZeneca for breaches of EU competition law.  read more »

The General Court of the European Union has confirmed the decision of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Competition to fine AstraZeneca under EU competition law for using its dominant position to delay the market entry of generic versions of its blockbuster drug Losec (omeprazole), which is used in the treatment of reflux disease.  read more »

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 »