Australian Tribunals (27 October 2026)

Send us Fan Mail The Australian Patent Office and four tribunals, seven decisions in the Tribunals edition of Tuesday 27 October 2026, two with headnotes. Why two patent oppositions failed against claims wider than the examples; and what a tribunal expects of someone who manages another person's money. The Fair Work Tribunals edition of the same day (twenty five Fair Work Commission decisions, all listed without reasons) is folded in by one line. Tribunals Desk: two patent oppositions and claims wider than the examples (lead). Quarry Mining and Constructions Equipment Pty Limited v Sandvik Mining and Construction G.m.b.H.; Sandvik Mining and Construction Australia Pty Ltd; Sandvik Mining and Construction Australia (Production/Supply) Pty Ltd [2026] APO 27 - "secured inside", given its ordinary meaning, excludes couplings that come undone, so postulated inoperative variants fall outside the claims; no undue burden from the absent upper bound on thread lead (s 40(2)(a)); no excess over the technical contribution (s 40(3)); inutility must be proved by evidence, not speculation (ss 7A, 18(1)(c)). Opposition unsuccessful; costs against the opponent. JADE Dorel Australia Pty Ltd v Wonderland Switzerland AG [2026] APO 30 - claims need not mirror a single depicted embodiment if the invention can plausibly be performed across the full scope without undue burden; clarity is a workable meaning read in a practical, common sense manner; novelty needs every essential integer; for a combination, whether the combination is obvious; a late SGP amendment refused without explanation for the delay; costs apportioned at the date narrowing s 104 amendments were allowed. Opposition dismissed; the application proceeds to grant, subject to appeal. JADE Tribunals Desk: administrators, accounts and gifts (worked example from a synopsis; legal framework only; no outcome stated). Patrick [2026] WASAT 128 - synopsis: review of an administration order under ss 4, 64 and 68 Guardianship and Administration Act 1990 (WA): the three-element capacity test; administrator suitability, including Public Trustee reporting; transfers of a represented person's funds without gifting authority breach the best interests requirement; the cost of delayed accommodation deposits; s 73(1) SAT Act direction to the Public Trustee to investigate. JADE Registry and the thread (listed without reasons; by subject only; no outcome stated): Semple v Greater Geelong CC [2026] VCAT 908 (planning permit); Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia v Bali [2026] VCAT 900 (professional misconduct); HPQ v Commissioner of Victims Rights [2026] NSWCATAD 325 (victims support review); Health Care Complaints Commission v Bah [2026] NSWCATOD 139 (professional discipline). Case notes Quarry Mining and Constructions Equipment Pty Limited v Sandvik Mining and Construction G.m.b.H.; Sandvik Mining and Construction Australia Pty Ltd; Sandvik Mining and Construction Australia (Production/Supply) Pty Ltd [2026] APO 27 - Neil Miller, delegate of the Commissioner of Patents, 25 September 2026. Patents Act 1990 (Cth) ss 7A, 18(1)(c), 40(3), 59; Patents Regulations 1991 (Cth) Sch 8. Held also: inventive step not made out; costs followed the event. Why aired: an opponent cannot defeat a broad claim by postulating unworkable variants; construction can exclude them, and insufficiency, lack of support and inutility need evidence. <a