Landmark decision regarding the Law of Novelty of a Patent in Australia

On 4 February 2013, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia handed down its decision in Novozymes A/S v Danisco A/S [2013] FCAFC 6 . In its decision, the Court upheld an appeal by Shelston IP's client, Novozymes, from an earlier 2011 decision of Justice Bennett.

An aspect of the decision of particular note is the finding that the novelty of a patent may successfully be challenged where the invention is not expressly disclosed in full in the prior art, but where the inevitable result of following instructions contained in the prior is the working of the patented invention.

Danisco's patent claimed a process for preparing a foodstuff, including the addition of an enzyme to a food material to generate two functional ingredients. Danisco sued Novozymes for patent infringement in respect of its product called "Lipopan Xtra". Novozymes cross-claimed, challenging the validity of the patent on a...