Welcome to Licencing Executives Society (LES) – New Zealand chapter
Welcome to our November newsletter!
Let’s celebrate the end of the year! No more lockdowns, no more border closures! It’s been a while since we last held our in-person events. The New Zealand team is delighted to announce two upcoming in-person events held on 7 December 2022.
We will be hosting the Intermediate Licensing Course with our talented facilitators Catherine Boxhall (who is flying in from Sydney) and Sue Muggleston. Following the workshop, all members are all welcome to attend the End of Year Networking event in Commercial Bay, Auckland.
For those interested in other events, the LESANZ Victoria chapter will be hosting an upcoming online webinar discussing Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (ICIP) and how to respect and acknowledge indigenous rights. The session will feature both Australian and New Zealand guest speakers.
This month’s newsletter profiles the:
* Online: Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property seminar, 22 November 2022
* In-person Intermediate Licensing Course, 7 December 2022
* End of Year evening networking session, 7 December 2022
* 2023 LESANZ annual conference, 8-10 March 2023
* Recap of the ‘The Rise of the Machines’ AI event
Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property: current state and where to from here (online) | 22nd November
How is Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (ICIP) being respected and acknowledged in practice in Australia in the absence of any recognised rights under law? This seminar discusses how organisations presently treat ICIP without a legislative framework, as well as what is being done to address this important gap in both Australia and New Zealand.
Guest speakers include Stephanie Parkin (Parralax Legal), Anthony Wallis (Aboriginal Artists Agency), Edwina Lewis (IP Australia), and Laine Fisher (Te Puni Kokiri). The panel session will be facilitated by Ben Hamilton (Hall & Wilcox and LESANZ Trustee).
Time: 3.00-4.15 pm, 22 November 2022
Venue: online
Cost: AU$20 - LESANZ members; AU$40 - non-members
Register here
Intermediate Licensing Course | Auckland
This LESANZ one day training course will provide you with an understanding of the structuring and content of a licence agreement including the key concepts behind each provision, and why these documents have evolved into the key licencing terms many use today.
The session will provide attendees with a framework for understanding a licence agreement based on legal and commercial concepts and real-world experience, providing a base for more effective negotiation, and drafting of licensing agreements.
The workshop will feature case studies and interactive licensing scenarios and will include group work and discussions.
The in-person course will be led by Sue Muggleston (Intellectual Property Manager, Plant & Food Research) and Catherine Boxhall (Partner, Integra Law).
This is a catered event and includes lunch and refreshments.
Get in quick - places are limited to 22 participants.
Time: 9.00 am-4.00 pm, 7 December 2022
Venue: The Generator, Makorā Toru, PwC Tower, Level 2, 15 Customs Street West, Auckland
Cost*: AU$400 (LESANZ members); AU$685 (non-members)
*KiwiNet members are also eligible for a discount, please email Beth for more info at [email protected]
Register here - as at time of going to print, only 11 places are left
End of Year Networking Event | Auckland
Following the Intermediate Licensing Course, we would love to invite all our LESANZ members to join us for our End of Year networking event at Brothers Beer in Commercial Bay.
Time: 5 pm onwards, 7 December 2022
Venue: Brothers Beer & Juke Joint BBQ, Commercial Bay, 21 Queen St, Auckland CBD
Website: brothersbeer.co.nz
Book Here
2023 LESANZ annual conference - in person | Geelong | Australia
Save the date, the annual conference is back! After holding this event online for a few years, the LESANZ team are ready to personally welcome you back to our in-person conference.
The 2023 conference will focus on themes such as indigenous communities and management of intellectual property and a regional focus on Agriculture and Manufacturing including global commercialisation stories.
Date: 8-10 March 2023
Venue: Waurn Ponds Estate | Deakin University, Geelong, Australia
More details will be available on the LESANZ website shortly.
Event recap: ‘The Rise of the Machines’ | 6 September 2022
LESANZ hosted a webinar entitled “AI inventorship: ‘The Rise of the Machines’ in AU & NZ” presented by Dr Chris Wilkinson, Partner at Madderns Patent & Trade Mark Attorney and Dr Jonathan Hall, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Presagen.
In particular, Chris Wilkinson discussed the question of whether an artificial intelligence (AI) can be recognised as an inventor under the patent system in Australia and New Zealand by reviewing the cases brought by Dr Stephen Thaler who tried to list the AI system ‘DABUS’ he created as an inventor on a patent application. The Assistant Commissioner in New Zealand determined that an AI could not be considered an inventor under the New Zealand Patents Act because a ‘non-natural’ person cannot be listed as an inventor under current New Zealand law. Dr Stephen Thaler’s argument that the statute does not explicitly prohibit AI being listed as an inventor was rejected by the IPONZ. Interestingly, this argument was initially successful in Australia, where the Federal Court initially found an AI could be an inventor, before this was overturned on an appeal to the Full Federal Court. It is likely that legislative reform will be needed in both New Zealand and Australia to provide certainty against future technological advances in AI.
Jonathan Hill then took us through the commercialisation journey of his company Presagen and how they are using AI to assess 2D images of embryos for their likelihood of success in IVF. This embryo ‘ranking’ system was built by training the AI, using images of thousands of embryos intended for transfer and their corresponding known clinical outcomes. This system brings about better clinical outcomes for women, as the AI system eliminates subjectivity and can identify features that are invisible to the human eye.
The webinar was well attended with 45 participants from across Australia and New Zealand.
Melissa Wong | 2022 NZ Regional Chair