Craig Smith
- Commercial Law Intellectual Property
- Tort Law
Craig has more than 23 years’ experience working in these areas, including more than 12 years at the Victorian Bar. He has a Chemical Engineering Degree (Honours, Owen Potter Award for top graduate, Monash University), and frequently acts in proceedings involving technical and scientific subject matter, including chemistry, biotechnology, pharmacology, materials science, mechanics, electronics and physics.
Craig regularly appears in the Federal Court, Supreme Court, County Court, Patents Office and Trade Marks Office, both alone, and as junior counsel.
Before coming to the Bar in 2009, Craig was a Senior Associate at Freehills (now Herbert Smith Freehills), and worked in its litigation and intellectual property groups for 10 years. He also has a Bachelor of Laws (Honours, Monash University), and a Master of Laws (H1 average, University of Melbourne). He has published a wide range of articles, in particular in the area of intellectual property, including papers that were awarded the IPSANZ essay prize and the Melbourne University Law School’s Student Published Research Prize (postgraduate division).
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards legislation.
Contact
- P03 9225 6897
- M0418 318 596
- F03 9225 8668
- E[email protected]
Castan Chambers
Level 13 Room 11
460 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Jane King
03 9225 8558
Expertise
- Competition
- Contractual Disputes
- Insurance
- Professional Negligence
- Confidential Information
- Copyright & Designs
- Patents
- Trade Marks
Qualifications
Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical Engineering) (Hons)
Bachelor of Laws (Hons)
Master of Laws
Victoria
State and Territory Courts and Tribunals
Federal Court of Australia
High Court of Australia
Recent Cases
UbiPark Pty Ltd v TMA Capital Australia Pty Ltd [2022] FCA 111, acting for technology company to restrain unjustified threats of patent infringement
Vector Corrosion Technologies Limited v E-Chem Technologies Ltd [2022] FCA 188, patent entitlement case in relation to steel reinforcing corrosion prevention
Ariosa Diagnostics, Inc v Sequenom, Inc [2021] FCAFC 101, (infringement and validity of patent concerning pre-natal diagnosis with cell-free fetal DNA)
Axent Holdings Pty Ltd v Compusign Australia Pty Ltd [2020] FCA 1373, acting for the respondents to a patent infringement proceeding
Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health USA v Intervet International BV [2020] FCA 1333, acting for the patent applicant in an appeal from an opposition relating to a veterinary formulation
CSIRO v BASF Plant Science GmbH [2020] FCA 328, acting for the patent applicant in an appeal relating to an amendment in relation to a biotechnology patent application
Gen-Probe Incorporated v Beckman Coulter, Inc [2022] FCA 194, trade mark opposition appeal relating to medical device trade mark (settled post-trial)
Chevron Global Energy Inc v Ampol Australia Petroleum Pty Ltd [2021] FCA 617, relating to use of unregistered colour mark for service station, and trade marks for fuel cards
Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC v Bega Cheese Limited [2020] FCAFC 65, relating to unregistered trade mark rights for peanut butter labelling
Craig has appeared in more than 45 patent and trade mark office hearings, for both applicants and opponents, in relation to a wide range of subject matter, including in particular:
- Biotechnology and life sciences: including cases for BASF Plant Science GmbH, Dow AgroSciences LLC, SPeeDx Pty Ltd, Cargill Inc, Branhaven LLC, Ionian Technologies and Meat and Livestock Australia;
- Pharmaceuticals and chemistry: including cases for Apotex Pty Ltd, Sandoz, Construction Research and Technology GmbH (part of the BASF Group, Dow AgroSciences LLC and Rio Tinto, Berry Films;
- Electrical, physics, mechanical and manufacturing: including cases for Mine Site Technology, Sportsbet, CCL Secure (Innovia), Caterpillar, Fugro Airborne Surveys Corp, Asahi Kasei and Leprino Foods Company.
Craig regularly acts in commercial disputes in the above areas, which has recently included cases involving misleading and deceptive conduct relating to manufacturing equipment, accounting advice, estate agent advice and the supply of defective goods (including diseased animals, products failing and causing fire and welding defects).