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Belinda Findlay - Blake Dawson
Belinda Findlay has many years of experience in the field of intellectual property, commercialisation, franchising and associated areas of law, with a particular emphasis on providing a range of services to food clients. Belinda Findlay leads an integrated team with legal expertise in all aspects of marketing products, including food labelling, and IP protection and enforcement in the areas of trade mark, copyright and designs. Belinda Findlay also assists clients with advertising vetting, trade promotions, licensing and sponsorship. Highly regarded for delivering advice in a seamless, proactive and efficient manner, Belinda Findlay draws on her team’s in-depth knowledge of the client as a whole to deliver high quality advice as well as time and cost savings.
Belinda Findlay has recently undertaken a secondment to BlueScope Steel Limited as Corporate Counsel for the Australian Manufacturing Markets business. This experience has provided Belinda with the ability to better anticipate the service needs of her clients. Belinda Findlay alerts clients to their obligations under copyright legislation, assisting them to act as good corporate citizens.
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About this entry
- Published:
- 19 Apr 2008 / 06:59 AM
- Category:
- IP Firms Directory
Blake Dawson - Skins to skins: a cautionary tale for manufacturing contracts and copyright licensees
Rebecca Young and Belinda Findlay of Blake Dawson report on Futuretronics.com.au Pty Limited v Graphix Labels Pty Limited and John Atta [2007] FCA 1621, in which a Federal Court of Australia decision indicates that absent an express term to the contrary, a manufacturer of a non-patentable and non-unique product may be able to create and sell its own version of the product.
According to Rebecca Young and Belinda Findlay, this decision highlights the need for there to be clear contractual terms set out with respect to manufacturing relationships, including expectations regarding competition within the marketplace, keeping in mind trade practices considerations. Where an existing manufacturing relationship is in place, a court is unlikely to extend an implied copyright licence beyond the precise requirements of the manufacturing relationship.
Blake Dawson - Skins to skins: a cautionary tale for manufacturing contracts and copyright licensees
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About this entry
- Published:
- 12 Mar 2008 / 09:47 PM
- Category:
- Copyright, Patents, Trade Practices
Blake Dawson - Descriptive word trade marks and problems of evidence: the Cashcard decision
Lionel Nichols and Belinda Findlay of Blake Dawson reviews CASHCARD Trade Mark Application [2007] ATMO 70 in which the Australian Trade Marks Office (ATMO) rejected Cashcard Australia Ltd’s application to register the trade mark CASHCARD in class 9. According to Lionel Nichols and Belinda Findlay, the ATMO found that the word CASHCARD was lacking inherent capacity to distinguish the applicant’s goods and was likely to be needed by other traders to indicate the nature of their goods. The ATMO went on to reject the applicant’s submission that the mark had acquired distinctiveness, criticising the evidence supporting this conclusion as being unsatisfactory.
According to Lionel Nichols and Belinda Findlay, the case serves as a reminder to applicants that evidence of prior use must relate precisely to the mark applied for, rather than to composite or similar marks. Further, the evidence must have a highly probative value. Survey evidence must be clear, well-designed and not self-serving and trade evidence must demonstrate the importance of the mark directly with regard to consumer relations and the identification of the applicant or its goods.
Blake Dawson - Descriptive word trade marks and problems of evidence: the Cashcard decision
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- Published:
- 12 Mar 2008 / 09:34 PM
- Category:
- Trade Marks
Blake Dawson - A novel apple? The “informed user” standard and assessment of distinctiveness under the Designs Act
Sally Wilson and Belinda Findlay of Blake Dawson reviews the Designs Office decision of Re Apple Computer Inc [2007] ADO 5. According to Sally Wilson and Belinda Findlay, the Designs Office revoked a design registration owned by Apple Computer Inc for “a universal serial bus (USB) Type-A connector device” on the ground that the design lacked overall distinctiveness compared to other USB Type-A connectors. In reaching the decision, the Hearing Officer canvassed the principles for applying the “standard of the informed user” to the question of distinctiveness in the examination process for a registered design under the Designs Act 2003 (Cth). Applying these principles, Sally Wilson and Belinda Findlay note that the Hearing Officer found that the relevant “informed user” for Apple’s design was the ordinary computer user, that is, a person with general familiarity with computers, and not necessarily an IT expert, and that this was the user the examiner had used.
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About this entry
- Published:
- 12 Mar 2008 / 09:29 PM
- Category:
- Designs
Blake Dawson IP
Blake Dawson’s Intellectual Property team comprises the foremost legal experts in this field in Australia. Blake Dawson’s award winning team provides a complete range of contentious and non-contentious specialist intellectual property services. Blake Dawson is one of the few Australian law firms which provide a completely integrated full service intellectual property offering. Their team is able to register, commercialise and enforce any intellectual property (IP) right. Blake Dawson’s technical skills in IP to provide the best strategic advice to local and international companies operating in the pharmaceutical, manufacturing, publishing, food, media, financial services, airline, life sciences, chemistry, electronics, computer engineering, mining and engineering sectors.
Chambers Global, 2007 stated that Blake Dawson’s “team has a strong practice across the board”, while Chambers Global, 2006 commented that “Clients get a lot of attention, no stone is left unturned”. Asia Pacific Legal 500, 2006/2007 also noted Blake Dawson’s strong client base: “The firm acts for a long list of companies, including many globally famous brands, as well as government bodies, life sciences organisations and research institutes”. In the Managing Intellectual Property World IP Survey, 2006 the Blake Dawson IP practice received recognition in all categories: patent prosecution, patent contentious, trade mark/copyright contentious, and trade mark prosecution. They have a first-tier ranking in IP, IT and Communications and Media from Asia Pacific Legal 500, 2006/2007 and in PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook, 2006. Blake Dawson’s life sciences practice has received particular accolades. They are judged to be a leader in Life Sciences (all categories) in PLC Cross-border Handbooks, 2006/2007. Interviewees for Chambers Global, 2007 singled out the life sciences sector as an area of “overwhelming strength” for our practice.
Blake Dawson is one of only three Australian firms listed in the top 20 IP practices in the Global Intellectual Property Super League Tables, 2006. Three of the firm’s IP partners were named in the Legal Media Group Guide to the World’s Leading Trade Mark Law Practitioners, 2007.
Our perspective
Blake Dawson’s Intellectual Property practice offers Australian and international clients a full range of intellectual property services, including:
* Advising on identification, protection and management of patents, trade marks, designs and plant breeders’ rights, and related services such as drafting, filing, prosecution, opposition and strategic portfolio management
* Negotiating and drafting a full range of IP agreements, including agreements regarding commercialisation, research and development, licensing, distribution, franchising, sponsorship, joint venture and international technology transfer
* Advising on copyright, confidential information, passing off and unfair competition
* Enforcing all IP rights, including conducting IP litigation and alternative dispute resolution and developing anti-counterfeiting strategies.
* Advising on marketing, advertising and promotions and on sponsorship and merchandising agreements
* Advising on food, pharmaceutical, therapeutic goods and agricultural and veterinary chemicals regulation.
Blake Dawson’s recent Intellectual Property experience includes:
* World’s first vaccine against cervical cancer - Blake Dawson acted for CSL Limited in the Federal Court of Australia in a dispute concerning the world’s first vaccine against cervical cancer. The dispute was satisfactorily resolved. CSL subsequently successfully applied to the PBAC and federal government to annually vaccinate all Australian females aged 12 and to conduct catch up vaccinations over a two year period.
* Gambro v Fresenius - Blake Dawson acted for Gambro in its long running patent litigation against Fresenius Medical Care relating to haemodialysis systems and disposables in Australia. We represented Gambro in victories on infringement and validity in the Federal Court at first instance and before the Full Court on appeal. We also successfully defended Fresenius’s application for special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia. Blake Dawson is currently acting for Gambro in the damages phase of the case.
* Conor Med Systems Inc v Angiotech & UBC - Blake Dawson acted for Conor who sought revocation of patents held by Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc and the University of British Columbia over taxol-coated stents in the Federal Court. This was the first case to consider whether the inclusion of an additional patentee, who has no entitlement to the claimed invention, renders the patent liable to be revoked under section 138(3)(a) of the Patents Act 1990.
IP Partners at Blake Dawson
Peter Chalk
David Clark
Belinda Findlay
Grant Fisher
Ben Miller
Mary Padbury
Lisa Ritson
Senior Associates at Blake Dawson
Annika Barrett
Anita Cade
Karen Gettens
Natalie Hazel
Joanna Lawrence
Nik Ramchand
Kellech Smith
Melinda Upton
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About this entry
- Published:
- 01 Mar 2008 / 01:23 AM
- Category:
- IP Firms Directory
- Tags:
- agricultural and veterinary chemicals regulation, airline, Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc., Anita Cade, Annika Barrett, Asia, Australia, Belinda Findlay, Ben Miller, Blake Dawson, British Columbia, Conor Med Systems Inc, contentious and non-contentious specialist intellectual, contentious and non-contentious specialist intellectual, CSL Limited, David Clark, Drafting, electronics, Federal Court, Federal Court of Australia, filing, financial services, food, Fresenius Medical Care, Full Court, Grant Fisher, High Court of Australia, intellectual property services, IP Partners, Joanna Lawrence, Karen Gettens, law firms, Lisa Ritson, Mark Law Practitioners, Mary Padbury, Melinda Upton, mining, Natalie Hazel, opposition, Peter Chalk, pharmaceutical, prosecution, Senior Associates, strategic portfolio management, technology transfer, University of British Columbia