Today’s Melbourne Age and Sydney Morning Herald have carried a story reporting that copyright-infringing downloads have escalated as a consequence of the economic downturn.
Read the article here.
As noted in the article “Rapid relief – seeking interlocutory injunctions to restrain patent infringement” in the May 2009 issue of Inventive Steps, there appears to be a recent trend for Australian Courts to more readily grant an interlocutory injunction to restrain alleged patent infringement. While the cases mentioned in that article mostly arose in the context of pharmaceutical patents, the decision of Logan J in Tramanco Pty Ltd v BPW Transpec Pty Ltd [2009] FCA 509 illustrates that that this apparent shift in approach to the granting of injunctions is not limited to that field of technology.
Tramanco sought, and was granted an interlocutory injunction to restrain BPW from infringing its patent in relation to a method for logging the performance of a vehicle suspension system. The injunction, while only granted for a short period time, was sufficient to prevent BPW from exhibiting the alleged infringing device at a major international truck and machinery show commencing the day after the hearing of the application.
Also considered to be of particular relevance was the fact that while BPW’s marketing campaign in relation to the alleged infringing device was relatively recent, that of Tramanco was of long standing, again highlighting the importance of acting without delay in seeking to obtain an interlocutory injunction.
Australia has moved from the second tier to the first in the Taylor Wessing Global Intellectual Property Index.
The index provides an assessment of IP regimes across 24 key jurisdictions.
The May 2009 issue of Inventive Steps is now available here.
Inventive Steps is a POF publication covering key developments in intellectual property globally.
The Australian government presented it budget to parliament on Tuesday evening. It is a big-spending budget intended to cushion the impact of the global recession and to stimulate the economy.
The news for those engaged in research and development and innovation is positive, with some key funding initiatives including:
Further to our 30 April 2009 report, the Patents Bill received its first reading in Parliamant on 5 May.
The Bill has been referred to the Commerce Committee, which has invited public submissions, by 2 July.
The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) has introduced two new status descriptions for Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Applications entering the New Zealand National phase.
The new statuses are: Waiting for examination date and Ready for examination. Read more here.
The Attorney-General has announced the proposed abolition of the Federal Magistrates Court, with Magistrates being integrated into the Federal and Family Courts.
The majority of IP matters are heard before the Federal Court, which will consist of two tiers. The first being the existing Judges who will hear appeals and more complex matters, and the second being Magistrates, who will hear shorter less-complex matters. The involvement of Magistrates in IP matters in the new structure is unclear.
Last night, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s 7.30 Report screened a story on gene patents, which included the views of advocates and opponents of the patentability of genes. The story transcript (and a link to the video) is here.
The story mentions the current inquiry by a Standing Committee of the Senate into this issue.
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