Bulletin - April 2010

From the President’s Desk

It’s been another busy LES month with the LESANZ chapter stamping its influence on a global scale!

In very exciting news, we are thrilled to announce that our very own Rob McInnes will become Secretary of LESI at the September Delegates meeting of the organisation to be held in Chicago in late September 2010 (more details here). Congratulations to Rob, who is the most recent in a very distinguished line of Australian IP luminaries to work on the LESI Board. 

In another coup which is becoming a regular event, LESANZ is proud to announce that, for the third year in a row, a start up enterprise from Swinburne University has made it to the finals of the LES Foundation Graduate Student Business Plan competition to be announced in Boston at the LES USA/Canada meeting on May 19, 2010.    Encase Pty Ltd, after the devastating Black Saturday bushfires, identified a need for a world class wild fire shelter.   Encase founders, Andrew and Alison were also finalists in the UQ Business Plan Awards, and were equal winners of the Chancellor’s post graduate prize in the 2009 Swinburne Venture Cup.   Encase was selected from 37 outstanding business plans from all over the world including the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Australia, Singapore, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

At the Delegates Meeting just completed at the LESI meeting in Sandton in South Africa, Mark Horsburgh worked overtime presenting to the international body LESANZ’s proposal for organisational membership, prepared and conceived by Past President Simon Rowell, as well as an update on our long term sponsorship plans leading up to an including the LESI meeting to be held in Auckland in 2012.   To Mark and Simon’s credit, LESI has adopted the concept of organisational membership, and at least one other delegation was so impressed by our sponsorship model, they immediately adopted it for themselves in their proposal to host an LESI meeting! Our thanks and congratulations to both gentlemen.

You can find out more about both of these advances at our national conference in Adelaide next week. If you haven’t already booked, this is your last chance. Book now! The links for more information is located to the right of this report. See you there!

Last Chance to Register for LESANZ Annual Conference 2010!

This is the final call for registrations for the LESANZ Annual Conference 2010 to be held from 22 to 24 April at the Intercontinental, Adelaide.

The conference theme is “Public Good and Intellectual Property Rights – Grant Me a Monopoly for the Benefit of All”.

The programme for the conference is jam packed with many dynamic speakers covering a range of diverse topics including:

• Contemporary Issues in IPR;
• Open Access Versus IPR;
• Co‑operative Research Centres (Special Panel Session);
• IPR and Public Health;
• IPR’s Role in Fund Raising for New Ventures;
• Geographical Indications;
• Defence IP for the Public Good;
• Best Endeavours Obligations in Licensing Arrangements;
• Do IPRs Matter for Commercialisation? (Informative Debate).

Keynote speakers include Dr Patrick O’Reilly, President LES International, The Honourable Richard Marles MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Innovation, Tony Clark, Swags for Homeless and Dr John O’Sullivan, CSIRO.

The conference also includes a number of interesting and entertaining social events including a conference dinner to be held at the Mortlock Chamber Library with guest speaker Dr Tim Cooper, CEO of the iconic South Australian Coopers Brewery.

Don’t miss out – register now!

News from the Victorian Region 

The Victorian  Regional Committee has undergone some changes in the last few months.   

We welcome Louise Brunero (Allens Arthur Robinson) and Belinda Findlay (Blake Dawson) to the Committee and look forward to their contributions.  We also say a fond farewell to Fiona Hansen (Ernst & Young), Sally Wilson (Davies Collison Cave) and Kellech Smith (Blake Dawson) who have retired from the Committee.  We thank each of our retiring members for their invaluable assistance and for the time they spent working on the  Committee.   

After two years in the role of Chair, Nicola Adams (Pacific Brands) is retiring from that role but will remain a  Committee member.  Geraldine Farrell (Griffith Hack) will be taking over the Chair position as of May 2010. 

Stay tuned for some interesting seminars that are being planned for 2010 including on such topics as patent valuation, mergers and acquisition issues for licensing, publishing issues and a seminar from the people behind the charity Swags for Homeless. 

Upcoming Events Around the Regions

20th Apr - WA
Vats & Spats Intriguing developments in the Australian Wine Industry 
click here

23rd Apr - National
AGM - InterContinental
Adelaide 5pm

28th Apr - QLD
Collaborative Agreements, Driving your technology forward
click here

29th Apr - VIC
Valuing Australian Inventions
click here

4-5 May - LES 
Joint LES Philippines and LES Singapore Meeting

2010 Conference News

 22nd - 24th April
Adelaide, InterContinental

"Public Good and Intellectual Property Rights"

Registrations are open
click here to Book

Welcome LESANZ
New members

Peter Bolam
Bolam Legal - QLD

Sylvia Florescu
Hall & Wilcox - VIC

Julie Harkins
Tasmanian Patent Services - TAS

Carolyn Haskard
CSIRO - SA

Jeff Holman 
Madderns Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys - SA

Michael Morris
HopgoodGanim Lawyers - QLD

Russell Nicholls
UWA - WA

David Richardson
DibbsBarker - QLD

Rebecca Wilson
DibbsBarker - QLD

Join the LESANZ Members Group on LinkedIn
click here

2010 Memberships to LESANZ
Have you renewed your membership?
Click here to renew

Contact the Editor
Editor

Contact the Secretariat
Beth Benson

To advertise in the LESANZ Bulletin
Next edition input due 19th March click here

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