Andrew Rankine

Principal
Spruson & Ferguson Lawyers: Litigation
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Overview

Andrew is a specialist in intellectual property disputes. His practice focuses on the life sciences.

Andrew has particular expertise in handling complex patent disputes for global leaders in the pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical device industries. He has acted in a number of Australia’s leading cases in this area, for clients including Sanofi, Wyeth, Zoetis, Samsung Bioepis, Novozymes, Smith & Nephew, ResMed, and Cochlear.  Andrew’s cases typically relate to products with annual revenues in the 10s to 100s of millions of dollars. He recently acted for Sun Pharma in its successful action against Mylan relating to patents covering cholesterol-lowering medications.

A majority of Andrew’s cases represent the Australian limb of multi-national disputes.  He is accustomed to working closely with overseas legal teams, including in the United States, UK and Europe, to develop effective multi-jurisdictional strategies and ensure seamless integration.

When acting for clients in the life sciences sector, Andrew draws on his expertise as a qualified medical practitioner and biomedical scientist. He advises on the operation of Australia’s regulatory regime for therapeutic goods and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Andrew regularly handles applications for urgent injunctive relief, as well as applications for pre-action discovery.

In addition to his life sciences practice, Andrew acts on complex IP disputes for multi-nationals in the electronics, ICT, engineering and resources sectors, including Samsung, Siemens, and BASF. He currently acts for Hytera in the Australian limb of its global dispute with Motorola relating to communications technology.

Andrew is listed as a Leading Contentious Intellectual Property Lawyer in the 2022 edition of Doyle’s Guide.


Andrew Rankine's Insights
Australia | Lessons from recent interlocutory injunctions in pharmaceutical patent cases 
Is it becoming easier to obtain interlocutory injunctions in Australian pharmaceutical patent cases? We provide an overview of recent decisions in Australia’s Federal Court that shine a light on some key lessons for patent owners. Overview In...
Is it becoming easier to obtain interlocutory injunctions in Australian pharmaceutical patent cases? We provide an overview of recent decisions in Australia’s Federal Court that...
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Australia | Patents: the evolving law of Support and Sufficiency 
For more than a decade, and for at least another decade to come, Australia’s patent law has openly applied a double-standard with respect to written description requirements, namely the...
For more than a decade, and for at least another decade to come, Australia’s patent law has openly applied...
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