Patent Baristas

A recent decision of an Australian appeal court concerning a patent for an enantiomer pharmaceutical dealt with matters of patent claim validity and patent term extension. The decision, H Lundbeck A/S v Alphapharm Pty Ltd [2009] FCAFC 70, involves a decision of the Full Federal Court on rehearing an appeal by Alphapharm over an earlier […]

Today’s article looks at the life and practicalities of the Australian Innovation Patent system. Filing An innovation application can also be filed as a Paris Convention application, for example as an application claiming priority from a US provisional or non provisional utility application, or as a stand alone application, thus establishing its own priority date, […]

India’s pharmaceutical industry caters to about 30% of the world’s generic requirements. Despite its tremendous volume, it has been facing difficult times recently, with the WHO stance on counterfeit drugs, as well as seizure of Indian generic shipments in the EU. There is some good news now on the turf with the introduction of Bipartisan […]

Responding to an article about robotic inventors (Science, April 3, 2009), which reports about a robot that actually developed and tested hypotheses regarding certain yeast and discovered new gene sequences, we ask whether robotic “inventions” will ultimately become free to the public without the possibility for patent protection. American patent law (35 U.S.C. Section 102) […]

Conducting an IP audit is a way for a firm to assess the nature and value of its intellectual property assets. Such assessments may be critical and more commonplace in certain industries, such as IT and pharmaceuticals.  However, in the wake of legislative changes and the current economic downturn, the potential value in conducting an […]

On December 27, 2008, the Standing Committee of People’s National Congress approved amendments of the Chinese Patent Law. This third amendment aims at enhancing the innovation ability and enforcing protection of patent rights. Here’s a summary of the amendments most relevant to foreign clients: Direct Foreign Filing Available (A20) Now inventions/creations completed in China can […]

Patents, trade secrets and confidentiality agreements are mere words on paper to the scientist, engineer or executive intent on deception and theft. And if you have outsourced your research and development efforts overseas to countries with unenforced intellectual property laws and cultural norms that ignore individual property rights, then the intent to deceive and thieve […]

Since May 2001, a secondary type of patent, known as an “innovation patent,” has been available under Australian patent law. This underutilised type of patent is extraordinarily useful in several circumstances which will be discussed below. Key Features The key features of the innovation patent are: the patent term is 8 years rather than 20 […]