23 January 2019
Fish oil capsules fail the sniff test for ‘Made in Australia’ claims
The Federal Court has issued its first decision on the new ‘substantial transformation’ test since the commencement of Australia’s new country of origin labelling laws. The decision clarifies the circumstances where a ‘Made in Australia’ claim can be made for products manufactured and sold in...
14 December 2018
The Unified patent court and unitary patent – Introduction
26 of the 28 European Union Member States (MSs) have participated in the enhanced cooperation needed to establish a new patent right – the European Patent with Unitary Effect, otherwise known as the unitary patent ( UP ). This new right will become available as soon as the new court system - the...
11 December 2018
Patent and Pharma Update, December 2018
Key recent developments in the United Kingdom and Europe relating to patents and the pharmaceutical sector This issue reports on several ground-breaking decisions from the UK courts on second medical use patents and skinny labels, infringement by equivalents and the possibility of global FRAND...
15 November 2018
Draft Withdrawal Agreement Approved by UK Cabinet – IP and Marketing Authorisation Provisions Summarised
As has been widely reported, the Draft Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (the Draft Withdrawal Agreement ), detailing the arrangements for the UK to leave the EU was agreed by the...
09 November 2018
ACCC to up the ante in consumer protection matters
The ACCC recently released its Annual Report for the 2017/2018 financial year. 1 As well as looking back at the ACCC’s performance over the year, for companies operating in the consumer and retail sectors, it also provides useful insights into where the ACCC is heading in the area of consumer...
09 November 2018
What’s the damage? – The Federal Court’s decision in Sigma v Wyeth
Justice Jagot’s recent decision (of more than 400 pages) in Sigma v Wyeth 1 is an Australian first. The judgment considers the damages payable pursuant to an undertaking given for the grant of an interlocutory injunction in a pharmaceutical patent case.
25 October 2018
ACCC’s challenge to Pfizer comes to the end of the road with the High Court
We have previously published an update on the Full Court decision in ACCC v Pfizer, where the Full Court dismissed an appeal by the ACCC, upholding a first instance decision that Pfizer had not misused its market power or engaged in prohibited anti-competitive exclusive dealing in its sales and...
22 October 2018
France adopts a confidentiality regime for the trade secrets relied upon in (patent) litigation
As part of the French Law on the Protection of Trade Secrets dated 31 July 2018 , French lawmakers have finally adopted a long-awaited array of confidentiality rules covering the trade secrets that are being relied upon in cases that come before civil and commercial courts. Such provision was a...
26 September 2018
Brexit “no deal” technical notices published on intellectual property and life sciences sector issues
The latest tranche of “no deal” technical notices was released yesterday afternoon by the UK Government. Amongst them are several notices that highlight the Brexit issues faced by intellectual property right owners and, in some cases, confirm the Government’s approach to resolving them. The...
17 August 2018
Compulsory Licences, Crown Use and Inventive Step – Future Changes to the Patents Act
IP Australia has recently released its Exposure Draft detailing proposed changes to the Patents Act 1990 (Cth). The proposed changes affect the rarely-used compulsory licence and crown use provisions of the Act together with the more central, inventive step provisions. It is a strange combination...
01 August 2018
Indonesia’s foreign investment regime liberalised by new OSS system
In its efforts to encourage and accelerate investment, the Indonesian government has issued a set of regulations reforming existing business licence regulations and establishing an online one-stop business licensing system known as Online Single Submission (“ OSS ”). We believe this represents a...
17 July 2018
Brexit White Paper highlights importance of Intellectual Property rights post-Brexit
Significantly, for those with interests in IP rights, the UK Government's White Paper on Brexit makes encouraging noises about future recognition and security for IP in the UK and in the UK's relationship with the EU, including support for the Unified Patent Court and the UK's role within the new...
Loading Results
Loading
Hubs
Featured
Recent Articles
21 March 2019
Countdown to Brexit - Three Key Votes
With just days to go until Brexit, this week’s events in the UK Parliament may well be crucial in setting the future direction for the UK’s relationship with the EU. To try to make sense of the ongoing political turmoil, Tom Henderson , Senior Associate and member of our core Brexit team, hosted...
20 March 2019
Developing Green Hydrogen projects
In the lead up to this year’s federal election, both of Australia’s major political parties have released announcements regarding the establishment of an Australian hydrogen industry. A key focus of these announcements is the commitment to investing in ‘green’ hydrogen technologies, which through a...
19 March 2019
Superannuation Fund Governance Post-Hayne: Part Two
Conduct and Culture The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry was charged with inquiring into, and reporting on, ‘whether any conduct of financial services entities might have amounted to misconduct and whether any conduct, practices,...
19 March 2019
Japan-Australia M&A: Review and Trends (2017–2019)
Japanese direct investment into Australia has increased markedly in its scale and diversity in the last 10 years and is now second only to the United States. During 2017-2018, there were 68 Australian M&A deals involving Japanese companies.
18 March 2019
EU competition law principles on undertakings liable for fines also apply in the context of liability for damages
In a preliminary ruling request made by the Finnish Supreme Court on the question of the relevant entities liable for damages, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) held that principles applied in order to determine the relevant entities for liability for fines under Articles 101 and 102 TFEU (and...
18 March 2019
Mining Charter III: certainty, but at a cost
The Broad-Based Socio-Economic Empowerment Charter for the Mining and Minerals Industry, 2018 ( Mining Charter III or the Charter )1 came into force on Friday, 1 March 2019 - almost three years after the publication of the first draft.2 This brought to a close nearly three years of uncertainty and...
15 March 2019
Financial Services and the WTO in the context of Brexit
The EU Financial Affairs Sub-Committee of the House of Lords held a public meeting on financial services and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on 13 March 2019. Eric White, a Consultant in the Brussels office of Herbert Smith Freehills gave evidence to the Sub-Committee as did Dr Lorand Bartels of...
