In a landmark decision handed down 7 October 2015, the High Court of Australia has reversed the decisions of the lower courts and found that isolated genetic material is not patentable subject matter.

In D'Arcy v Myriad Genetics Inc [2015] HCA 35 the High Court of Australia unanimously held that claims 1 to 3 of Australian Patent No. 686004 did not relate to patentable subject matter and so were invalid

The trade ministers of the 12 countries who are party to the negotiations have announced that the terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) have been agreed.

The TPP is a multi-national free trade agreement, between Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam, which together represent approximately 40% of the world’s GDP. It is the most significant multi-lateral free trade agreement since the Uruguay round of the WTO.

Our recent articles have summarised the issues surrounding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations relating to pharmaceuticals and patent protection, and trade marks and geographical indications. Another issue which has received attention is the potential impact of any TPP agreement on the patentability of computer software.

Following the latest round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations in Hawaii, there has been a significant public interest in pharmaceutical patents. In this article we attempt to clarify and/or correct some of the information that is available in the draft Intellectual Property (IP) Chapter of the TPP agreement as it applies to pharmaceuticals[1]. In particular we discuss the distinction between patent protection (and patent term extension) for pharmaceuticals, data protection and patent linkage, the proposals for each, and where the current law in New Zealand stands in relation to these proposals.

The Australian House of Representatives and Senate have passed the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015. The purpose of the Bill is to reduce online copyright infringement in response to a specific concern raised by copyright owners. 

 Two new scams are doing the rounds relating to the registration of trade marks in Europe and internationally.

Two recent Australian trade mark decisions have considered how well Australian consumers would understand the meaning or pronunciation of foreign language words.

Congratulations to the winners of the Henry Hughes IP awards at the 2014 end of year exhibition held by Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Design.