Stay up to date with the latest intellectual property developments from New Zealand and around the world.
Disclosure Grace Period Held to Cover Post-Filing ‘Whole of Contents’ Disclosures
In Rozenberg & Co Pty Ltd v Velin-Pharma A/S the Delegate held that a post-filing publication of the same applicant can be covered by the grace period provisions, and so could be disregarded for novelty and inventive step purposes as a ‘whole of contents’ prior art base document...
In Merial Inc v Intervet International BV the Judge upheld the Assistant Commissioner’s finding that a request for an extension of time in which to file a counterstatement satisfied the relevant exceptional circumstances provisions in the Patents Regulations 2014...
Substitutability Key Factor in Obviousness Analysis
In 2017 NZIPOPAT 23 Merial Inc v Alleva Animal Health Limited the Assistant Commissioner declined to make a finding of obviousness even though the prior art primarily only differed in not mentioning the specific salt of levamisole used and despite allowing salts of levamisole to be used...
In 2017 NZHC 2393 Monster Energy Company v Ox Group Global Pty Ltd the Judge rejected Monster Energy’s appeal of an Assistant Commissioner’s decision that allowed Ox Groups device mark to proceed to registration...