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MMD has been unsuccessful again in their infringement suit against Camco Engineering and also in their allegation that Camco contravened the Australian Consumer Law.

On 8 March 2024, Justice Burley of the Federal Court issued the latest in a series of decisions relating to the patent-eligibility of Aristocrat’s electronic gaming machine (EGM) patents. Unfortunately it does not resolve the legal uncertainty created by the High Court’s split decision on the matter in 2022. What next?

On 5 March 2024, the Australian Patent Office (APO) issued its decision in the opposition filed by Clearview Towing Mirrors Pty Ltd in respect of Australian patent application AU2020281026 (Opposed Application). Clearview had opposed the grant of the Opposed Application on the grounds of inventive step, novelty, sufficiency, support and clarity.

The Federal Court’s second patent decision of 2024 is a unanimous decision of the Full Federal Court relating to one of several long-running patent disputes in the field of carpark overstay detection.   In March 2023, Justice Besanko upheld the validity of two patents owned by Vehicle Monitoring Systems Pty Ltd (VMS), both entitled ‘Method, apparatus and system for parking overstay detection’. 

In the first Federal Court patent decision handed down in 2024, MSA 4×4 Accessories Pty Ltd failed to establish infringement by Clearview Towing Mirrors Pty Ltd of MSA’s patent to a mountable storage device, commonly used in off-road and trade vehicles. 

Zoetis Services LLC opposed two Australian patent applications (one standard and one innovation patent application) in the name of Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica GmbH. The applications claim a method of treating heart failure due to asymptomatic myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) in a patient (including a dog) by administering pimobendan (also known as Vetmedin®).