Corporatisation is to blame for the exodus of senior patent attorneys from formerly private firms, say Ceri Wells and Adam Luxton of James & Wells. They explain why they believe the rise of the listed IP firm has drawbacks – and offer advice for anyone looking to secure the services of a good patent attorney.Read more

In pre-Covid days, if you created copyright works such as drawings or source code as part of your job, the odds are you would have done so during ‘normal office hours’. These days, many office-based employees now work flexible hours and work from home. As a result, ascertaining who is the owner of copyright in drawings or source code may be a little harder to discern.Read more

Intellectual property protection has always been important to the food/beverage and packaging sector. Patents and registered designs are tools that are frequently used to protect new technologies in this space. But not all patents are created equal… and things are about to change.Read more

In the context of intellectual property (IP) rights, whether social media platforms are your friend or foe depends on two factors, how you manage the IP rights of your own business, and how you treat the rights of others. In this article, we focus on the two IP rights that feature most prominently in social media marketing – copyright and trade marks – and how these should be managed on social mediaRead more

We are delighted to announce Jason Wach’s promotion to Partner. Jason has specialised in IP litigation for 13 years and has extensive experience acting for local and international businesses and assisting them with obtaining and enforcing IP rights.Read more

The innovation patent is currently the second tier of Australia’s two-tier patent system but is being phased out from 26 August 2021.A recent update from IP Australia indicated that there are delays in the grant of innovation patents due to the volume of applications being filed. Read more.Read more

Internationally recognised platform, IAM, interviewed James & Wells Partner Ian Finch after he was recommend its Global Leaders publication. Read more

There are both rewards and risks associated with Intellectual property. What the rewards are is obvious, the risks less so. This article identifies areas where risks can arise and the steps organisations can take to mitigate these. Read more

We are thrilled to announce the promotion of Andrew Scott to Partner and James Rowland to Associate.Read more

There is often a desire in patent cases for parties to simplify the case so that it can progress as quickly as possible. There are a range of options available to litigants but most commonly they will apply to strike out parts of the case pleaded against them. However, this recent case serves as a salutary warning that the task is not easy and, in doing so, they will likely face an uphill battle. Read more

Leading independent intellectual property firm James & Wells has taken its first important step into Melbourne with the appointment of Nick Mountford as a partner in its growing Australian team. Read more

Trade mark rights are assigned from one owner to another all the time. However the assignment of an unregistered trade mark to another owner is likely to be invalid unless both the underlying goodwill in the business and the goodwill in the trade mark are assigned. Recent litigation between Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC and Bega Cheese Limited got at the heart of this issue.Read more