Sigma Appeals EFFEXOR Decision – CSL Denied Leave to Amend Growth Hormone Patent – ACIP Seeks Submissions on Public/Private Collaboration – IP Australia Office Closure Dates for 2011 – Government Announces IP Resource for Indigenous Business Owners
SIGMA APPEALS EFFEXOR DECISION
Earlier this week we reported on the Australian Federal Court decision in favour of Wyeth, barring Sigma Pharmaceuticals and two other companies from marketing generic versions of the antidepressant EFFEXOR-XR in Australia.
We now hear that Sigma has appealed this decision to the Full Bench of the Federal Court of Australia. If any of our readers has additional information or documentation on the appeal, we would love to hear from you, either via email or through the Ask Patentology form.
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CSL DENIED LEAVE TO AMEND GROWTH HORMONE PATENT
Back in July we reported on a preliminary decision of the Australian Federal Court regarding discovery of documents relevant to a request by CSL Limited and Monash University under section 105 of the Patents Act 1990 for leave to amend their Australian patent no. 716,747, which relates to a stabilised growth hormone and a method of preparation thereof.
The decision on the amendment request was issued yesterday: CSL Limited v Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd (No 2) [2010] FCA 1251 (18 November 2010). Justice Jessup has denied the applicants' request, finding that they delayed for too long in seeking the amendment, in view of the length of time for which they had known (or should have known) of the potential issues with validity of the patent claims, and that they had gained an unfair advantage by allowing the claims to stand in their unamended form.
We will report further on this case once we have had time to digest the full decision.
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ACIP SEEKS SUBMISSIONS ON PUBLIC/PRIVATE COLLABORATIONS
The Advisory Council on Intellectual Property (ACIP) is investigating how intellectual property (IP) acts to enable or disenable collaborations between the public and private sectors.
As part of this enquiry, ACIP is current seeking submissions from private sector stakeholders regarding their experiences of collaborating with Australian publicly-funded research organisations. Submissions close on Friday 17 December 2010. Submissions from the public sector will be requested next year.
Further information is available from the ACIP website.
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IP AUSTRALIA OFFICE CLOSURE DATES FOR 2011
IP Australia has issued an Official Notice announcing the days in 2011 when the Designs Office, the Patent Office, the Plant Breeders Rights Office, the Trade Marks Office and their sub-offices are taken not to be open for business. As many readers will be aware, these dates can be important because deadlines falling on a day on which the relevant office is closed are often automatically extended to the next working day.
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GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES IP RESOURCE FOR INDIGENOUS BUSINESS OWNERS
On 11 November 2010 the Innovation Minister, Senator Kim Carr, launched the Dream Shield project, which aims to provide important and practical IP information for Indigenous inventors, designers and business owners.
The resources (available via the IP Australia web site) include stories of indigenous businesses that have successfully protected their intellectual property. The Minister's launch featured the story of Aboriginal Elder John Watson who lost his finger hunting crocodiles with his bare hands. He used a traditional medicine to numb the pain and stop the bleeding. Inspired by the effectiveness of this traditional medicine, his community initiated a research partnership with Griffith University, successfully securing patent protection.
View the Media Release and the Dream Shield Resources at IP Australia.
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