In an earlier article we commented on the content of a Report from IP Australia regarding the rights it had administered in the 2020 year. We were especially interested in any insights the Report offered on the effects of Covid-19 on the IP landscape in Australia. Our conclusion was that it may be too early to predict, via statistical analysis, any decline in domestic R&D but the drop in overall design filings might signal depressed domestic and overseas manufacturing of finished articles.Read more

August 2021 saw a slew of decisions issued by the Assistant Commissioners of Trade Marks in New Zealand. After significant frustrations with the rate of issuance in recent years, the uplift in volume is to be welcomed by trade mark practitioners and clients alike.Read more

Is a dispute on the horizon between Nissan and Ford? Ford has recently applied to register “Skyline” in relation to “motor land vehicles, namely SUVs, trucks and automobiles” in the United States.Read more

The past year saw a number of important developments regarding intellectual property impacting on the biotechnology sector in Australia. Here, we provide a brief summary of a selection of the latest Court decisions and government initiatives in Australia that are likely to be of interest to the biotech sector going forward.Read more

Are you thinking of exporting to Australia? Got your IP rights in order? Not yet? Well, don’t leave it too late because ‘she’ might not be right if you do.Read more

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Mike Flint as partner in our growing Christchurch office.Read more

James & Wells are delighted to have again been named finalists in three categories in the 2021 New Zealand Law Awards.Read more

A recent article in Car and Driver Magazine got me thinking about the concept of brand extension. Aston Martin has leveraged its brand into high priced condominiums in Miami, Los Angeles and Manhattan. The Manhattan apartments are fully furnished with Aston Martin Home Collection pieces, and come with an Aston Martin DBX (which has been “designed” by the building’s architect) but, oddly, no car park. Read more

The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) has traditionally been very strict when examining for double patenting, stricter than IP Australia for example. IPONZ examiners are quick to raise a “parent-divisional claim overlap” objection, under Regulation 82 of the Patents Regulations 2014 or Regulation 23(2) of the Patents Regulations 1954, against a divisional application with similar claims to its parent. Read more

Last Friday, Justice Beach of the Australian Federal Court has held in Thaler v Commissioner of Patents [2021] FCA 879 (30 July 2021) that an alleged Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) known as DABUS can validly be named as an inventor in patent application AU2019363177.Read more

We are delighted to announce the promotion of Alexia Mayer to Partner.Read more

We recently highlighted that the decision of Beach J of the Federal Court of Australia in Ono Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd v Commissioner of Patents had raised as many questions as it had answered in relation to Patent Term Extensions (PTEs).Read more