Watermark

Murray Goulburn's well-known brands include DEVONDALE for the company's consumer dairy products, and NATRA; the brand of the new subsidiaries, MG Food Ingredients and MG Nutritionals set up to manufacture and market specialised proteins and nutritional supplements. MG Nutritionals is at the forefront of Murray Goulburn's future profit growth, with the international commercialization of innovative bioactives such as lactoferrin, colostrum and specialty whey fractions.

In the markets in which Murray Goulburn's businesses operate, development, acquisition and protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) are fundamental to success.

Watermark has worked with Murray Goulburn for over 25 years primarily in the area of brand protection. Watermark assisted Murray Goulburn to obtain protection of their flagship house mark MG in 10 different countries through North and South East Asia and was heavily involved with Murray Goulburn in the landmark Australian litigation over the trade mark MOO. More recently Watermark has assisted MG Nutritionals to extend the range of protection of the company's brands into North America. Watermark assists Murray Goulburn by using our detailed knowledge and experience in international trade mark protection, as well as our extensive network of overseas associates, to register and protect key trade marks and to defend those trade marks from challenge by competitors.

The burgeoning MG Nutritionals division, established in 2002, is now driving Murray Goulburn's increased involvement in the generation and protection of technical IP. The MG Nutritionals strategy is to produce and market nutritional products from a dairy base which improve the health, wellbeing and quality of life for consumers. Fulfilment of this aim has led to the creation of valuable IP which allows the MG Nutritionals offerings to be differentiated from those of its competitors, and to deliver competitive returns on investment to Murray Goulburn.

As well as supporting its own internal R&D program, MG Nutritionals has been particularly successful in securing funding from external sources to gain maximum leverage for Murray Goulburn's investment in research and development. MG Nutritionals was awarded a Food Innovation Grant from the National Food Industry Strategy in 2003 which contributes funding to assist in the discovery of novel multi-functional milk peptides. MG Nutritionals has also collaborated with the Gardiner Foundation, Food Science Australia, Deakin University and commercial partners on a revolutionary bio-discovery program together with product differentiation and commercialisation work.

Accordingly, protection of crucial new IP through appropriate patenting strategies is of crucial concern to Murray Goulburn. Watermark has been integrally involved in the creation and development of Murray Goulburn's patent portfolio, which includes four families of patent applications in a number of countries which have been written and filed by Watermark attorneys. Our attorneys' technical and commercial experience in fields ranging from human nutrition and protein chemistry to commercial food processing operations has been critical to our ability to contribute significant value-add to Murray Goulburn's IP portfolio.

Of course, diligent IP management also requires one to be aware of the activities of competitors, especially in the IP-savvy export markets of Europe, Japan and North America. Watermark has also acted for Murray Goulburn in patent opposition proceedings, as well as maintaining watching briefs on key competitive IP.

As is often the case, some of Murray Goulburn's activities have necessitated the licensing-in of technologies from research institutions. Watermark assists Murray Goulburn in the identification and assessment of external patent portfolios and has advised on the scope of protection given by these patents, enabling Murray Goulburn to make informed decisions on the real value of such IP to their commercial strategies.

It is likely that in the next few years, as Murray Goulburn's technical capabilities develop further, Murray Goulburn will itself become one of the most IP-savvy operators in the dairy and food industry in Australia and beyond. Watermark is proud to contribute to Murray Goulburn's ongoing success.