Authors: Judith Miller & Bindhu Holavanahalli A Bill to extend the unfair contract protections of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) for consumer contracts to standard form small business contracts passed the Senate yesterday with major amendments which will substantially expand the operation of the regime. The Senate amended the Bill to extend the definition of ‘small business contract’ by increasing the …
We need more opportunities to share our Innovation stories!
Author: Peter Caporn Shaun Gregory , Senior VP of Strategy, Science and Innovation at Woodside Energy Ltd said as much at Networking WA’s recent breakfast event “The Resources Sector and Technology and Innovation”, which was proudly supported by RIG for the second year in a row. Peter Caporn, Principal of Wrays and Resources Group Head, attended with a number of …
Resources industry productivity halved, technology & innovation to the rescue?
Author: Peter Caporn The AusIMM held an event last night at MineSpace in West Perth to launch their membership and Matt Mullins of Tecoma Strategies, former leader of BHP Billiton’s whole-of-business productivity initiative, presented on “Some Emerging Trends in the Resources Industry”. The key point for me, despite the perhaps unnecessary reminder that the resources “Super Cycle” is over and …
Unfair contract protections extended to small business
Authors: Judith Miller and Bindhu Holavanahalli A Bill to extend the unfair contract protections of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) for consumer contracts to standard form small business contracts passed the House of Representatives yesterday.[1] Major points Unfair contract term protections to be extended to small business Regime to apply to contracts where: At least one party employs less than …
Rio Tinto Alcan and Norsk Hydro in patent opposition dispute
Author: Peter Caporn The potential importance and impact of prior third party use of an invention, together with careful attention to patent specification drafting, have been highlighted in a recent Australian patent opposition between Rio Tinto Alcan International Ltd and Norsk Hydro ASA [2015] APO 40 (Norsk Hydro is the patent applicant). In this Australian patent opposition decision, the full …
Effective management of SMEs
The 28th Annual SEAANZ Conference wraps up today in Melbourne. The conference was created to engage, inform and evolve businesses in the small to medium enterprise (SME) space. A snapshot of the conference themes included strategic management, commercialisation, product development, e-commerce and more. As advocates for fostering innovation and supporting SMEs, a partnership with SEAANZ was a ideal fit for Wrays. Check in on our blog …
The Batmobile, Kryptonite and Duff Beer: brand development and famous ancillary indicia
Using established ancillary indicia – things associated with a particular character, laden with goodwill, is a clever way of projecting a brand message. The hard work has already been done, after all: an audience recognises the brand immediately, and does not need to be taught what the brand means. A short list of ancillary indicia laden with goodwill might include: …
Collaborative intellectual property pooling: Neuron completes flight test campaign in France
The French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) and Dassault Aviation have successfully completed the flight test campaign for the Neuron unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) in Istres, France. The demonstration consisted of a series of flights along with presentation of the UCAV’s reliability and efficiency. According to Dassault’s press release, the Neuron managed to show exceptional availability and reliability during …
Start-ups: create a patent culture
Author: Paula N Chavez Congratulations to Alan Noble on the AFR coverage of StartupAUS today 21 April 2015, discussing its second Crossroads report which includes regulatory recommendations to bolster the Australia’s nascent start-up community. See here for more information. A topic typically overlooked in the start-up conversation, particularly in Australia, however, is that by creating a patent portfolio, a start-up can increase …
Surface miners: how obvious is obvious enough?
Author: Peter Caporn Do you routinely search patent specifications? If not, the recent decision in Vermeer Manufacturing Company v Wirtgen GmbH [2015] APO 14 suggests that you should. Surface miners, such as those employed in the resurfacing of roads and in the mining of coal and friable iron ores, have been the subject of a recent decision of a Delegate …