The Full Court of the Federal Court has found that marketing a product as an “alternative” to a trade-marked brand is no answer to a claim of infringing use as a trade mark. In Allergan Australia Pty Ltd v Self Care IP Holdings Pty Ltd [2021] FCAFC 163, Justices Jagot, Lee and Thawley took a … Read more

In vitro diagnostics offerings necessarily involve the collection of vast amounts of sensitive health data. This information is an invaluable resource for better understanding the genomic basis of disease, and making improvements to diagnostic offerings. It is imperative that stakeholders get it right when it comes to processing individuals' data and maintaining public trust, so that they can continue to exploit these rich datasets. Over the coming weeks HSF will publish a series of posts exploring issues that arise when processing this kind of data in accordance with the GDPR. Read more

The key legislation underpinning the Unified Patent Court ("UPC") and the unitary patent system has been ratified in Germany. The Federal President signed the legislation on 7 August 2021, and it was published in the Federal Law Gazette on 12 August 2021. Read more

The transition towards a circular economy is central to global sustainability objectives. National governments are also increasingly looking to regulate production processes in order to encourage the private sector to design out waste within their value chains. While related policy objectives and regulatory developments are abundant, the legal implications of this fundamental shift within production and consumption processes have faced little scrutiny to date. Our article, published in the August 2021 edition of PLC Magazine, sets out key legal considerations for businesses in the private sector that are engaged in the journey towards circularity, including the legal risks and consequences associated with the adoption of circular business models (including IP, know-how, collaboration, competition, supply chain and contractual risks). Read more

An artificial intelligence system is capable of being named as an “inventor” of patentable subject matter, according to the Federal Court’s recent decision in Thaler v Commissioner of Patents.[1] Subject to any appeal, this decision has salient implications for the ways in which inventorship, ownership, and inventiveness might be assessed in Australia in the future. … Read more

The Court of Appeal of England and Wales has granted Sky's appeal from the High Court decision that had held that some of its trade mark registrations were applied for in part in bad faith. The Court of Appeal found that it was not bad faith not to have an intention on application to use a mark for everything that could fall within a specification term (here "computer software"), nor was there a requirement to demonstrate a commercial strategy for using every type of good or service that could fall within a general description. The decision reaffirms that bad faith will only be found in exceptional circumstances, which were ultimately not found in this case. Read more

In the first ruling on a sound mark submitted as an audio file (rather than a word description of the sound) the General Court dismissed the appeal from the EUIPO's rejection of the application for lack of distinctiveness whilst also clarifying the criteria for assessing the distinctive character of sound marks and the perception of those marks in general by consumers. Ardagh Metal Beverage Holdings v EUIPO (T-668/19) 7 July 2021. Read more