Archive for category: NEWS

The fourth Australia-German Science Circle was held on a pleasant September evening in the meeting room at the Australian Embassy in Berlin. Attended by ABIE Board Members, Elisabeth Opie, Class de Boer and Rob Harrison, the event focussed on science collaboration around the world. Professor Debbie Terry, Senior Vice-Chancellor of the University of Queensland focussed on how important collaboration has become in the scientific world. Australia and Germany are leaders, with many of their researchers being on papers with non-local co-authors.  Growing tripartite arrangements involving Asian-based scientists were also discussed.

Professor Terry did not really dive into the commercialisation aspects of science, except to mention one interesting statistic: in Germany, the ratio of academic researchers to technologists and scientists working in industry is 2:4; in Australia the ratio is 5:2 – almost a complete reversal. This shows the potential for increase in Australian industry science-based structure while achieving high return on investment, and indeed is being encouraged by the Australian government. There is clearly a long way to go, and targeted international teaming up of scientists would certainly help meet the challenges ahead for mutual benefit – scientifically and commercially.

The evening finished off with the usual round of drinks in the Atrium.

It is a pleasure for me to again highlight a few of the developments in our bilateral relations, which broadly can be seen on a steady course following the conclusion and signing of a Strategic Partnership document in January, on the occasion of a visit to Berlin by Foreign Minister Senator Bob Carr.
The visit marked the culmination of our diplomatic anniversary year (ensuing from the first exchange of ambassadors in 1952) and refreshed our Minister’s and his German counterpart Mr Westerwelle’s joint commitment to a partnership of shared values focused on making a solid contribution to furthering the interests of the international community.
It also opened the scene for a series of activities around the 200th birthday of Ludwig Leichhardt, the iconic explorer who represents German-Australian links in such a particular way, giving us an opportunity to reflect on and showcase our strong collaboration in science and research. An early highlight was a special ‘Festakt’ commemorating Leichhardt in the Bundestag in mid February, to be followed now by a range of events in the Spreewald area, Leichhardt’s original home.
On an entirely different issue, we have been successful, finally, in conducting the first repatriation of Australian Indigenous ancestral remains from a German institution. A delegation of the Office for the Arts and Indigenous representatives from Queensland and South Australia came to Berlin in late April to collect remains from collections held by the Charité Medical Hospital. In a very memorable, solemn ceremony, the Traditional Owners and the Parliamentary Secretary for the Arts, the Hon Michael Danby MP, underlined the significance of the event and gave a strong signal to other institutions around Germany to positively consider similar returns.
It is thus encouraging for me to see substantial steps being made in a number of areas, and I am looking forward to other targeted activities taking me around Germany before completing my posting later this year.

April 15, 2013, saw the entry into force of Australia‘s revised law on trade marks. The main changes are only minor, but they should have the effect of improving brand owner‘s enforcement of their trade mark rights in Australia and are also relevant for German brands down under. The main change is to simplify the system for opposing the registration of an Australian trade mark.
Australian and European laws on the registration of trade marks are very similar. In both systems, a mark trade mark has to be distinctive and not descriptive of the goods and services for which it is registered. A trade mark can also not be similar to other trade marks registered for similar goods and/or services. How this is interpreted is a matter for local law. Just to take one well-know example: the trade mark UGG cannot be registered for boots in Australia, because it is descriptive. Outside of Australia a number of companies have disputed ownership of the brand and have also fought each other on similar brand names, such as UGH boots. Similarly, Aspirin is a registered trade mark (to Bayer) in Germany, whereas in Australia a number of companies produce (almost) identical products that are sold in every drug store and no single company can monopolise the word.
The new amendments speed up and simplify the procedure for opposing registration of new trade marks. In the future trade mark owners will need to file an opposition within two months after registration of the newer trade mark (in Germany and Europe: three months), which means that they will need to be quick off the mark. The Australian Intellectual Property Office will still review marks to see if there are similar marks already registered in Australia, unlike in Germany or other European countries which generally do not carry out a search for older marks. Experience shows, however, that not all similar marks are picked up by the Australian examiner.
Once an opposition has been filed, the trade mark holder is given a chance to defend its position and the opponent can respond. The trade mark registrar then makes a decision. The registrar will give both parties an opportunity to negotiate a settlement agreement to allow, for example, the co-existence of the marks in Australia.
This new procedure should allow a decision to be made on the validity of the mark to be made more quickly than in the past. It relies, however, very much on brand owners monitoring the registrations of their marks. Such a watch service can be set up comparatively cheaply and allows holders of the marks to keep an eye on hijackers of trade mark rights around the world to take appropriate action.