High Bar Set for Proving Ownership of Conjunction of Individually Owned Marks
In Goldstone Homes Ltd v Goldstone Aluminium Ltd 2021 NZIPOTM 23 a registration was found to be invalid on account of bad faith, but the pleading of ‘not the owner’ was rejected even though the registration was merely a simple arrangement of the invalidity applicant’s unregistered marks.
Negative Limitations in Patent Claims – Are They All Bad?
The conventional wisdom is that, in claim drafting, negative limitations should be avoided. Where possible, it is better to express a limitation in positive terms than negative. This is generally considered best practice.
Zespri Prevails Despite Minor Technical Setbacks to Infringement Findings
In Haoyu Gao v Zespri Group Ltd 2021 NZCA 442 the Court of Appeal overall upheld the infringement findings in the trial Judge’s decision, but found that Gao’s assumed authority to licence a Chinese grower did not infringe Zespri’s New Zealand plant variety rights (PVRs).
Can the Dimensions of a Patented Device be a Trade Secret?
The recent Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (CA7C) decision Life Spine Inc v Aegis Spine Inc 21-1649 held that Life Spine’s patent for spinal implant technology did not undermine a District Court’s preliminary injunction that included a finding of trade secret misappropriation in relation to the spinal implant technology.