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Australia. Preliminary Discovery. A New Frontier. Generics Are Now Using Preliminary Discovery in AU to Determine Whether to Mount Validity Challenges. Preliminary discovery applications are becoming increasingly common in the context of patent disputes in Australia.

The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia (Justices Beach, Jackson and Jackman) has issued a further, and what appears to be the final, decision in the long-running litigation between Nalco Company (Nalco) and Cytec Industries Inc (Cytec). 

In a significant PBS pricing decision, Justice Downes held that the PBS listing of Alphapharm’s generic Descovy® would also trigger statutory price reductions for several of Gilead’s related combination therapies, including Odefsey®, Biktarvy® and Genvoya®, under s 99ACC of the National Health Act.

Justice Stellios, sitting as duty judge in the Federal Court of Australia, has granted a mandatory interlocutory injunction requiring RedTail Technology Pty Ltd and its founder and sole director, secretary and shareholder (Richard Pahlavani).

The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia has delivered its decision in NOCO’s appeal from the primary judge’s decision in The NOCO Company v Brown and Watson International Pty Ltd [2025] FCA 887. The Full Court has dismissed NOCO’s appeal, rejecting NOCO’s challenges on lack of inventive step and the correct priority date for assessing novelty.

Shanghai Lytone Biochemicals has failed in its opposition to the grant of Fresh Inset S.A.’s patent application for compositions and articles comprising complexes of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) and alpha-cyclodextrin (α-CD), which are used to prolong the shelf life of plant products by inhibiting the effects of ethylene.

In v2food v Provectus, the Federal Court allowed v2food’s appeal after the opponent filed no evidence and took no active role in the appeal. Although the APO had previously found the claims lacked inventive step, the Court confirmed that on a de novo appeal the opponent still bears the onus — and without evidence, the opposition must fail.