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Adjunct Professor, Murdoch University

Luigo Palombi read law between 1977 and 1981 and economics between 1982 and 1985 at the University of Adelaide. He was a partner ar Davies Collison Cave, Australia's largest patent attorney firm, before branching out on his own in 1993 eventually to be a founding partner of the boutique IP firm Banki Palombi Hadock & Fiora in 1995.
His most significant work prior to leaving Australia in 1997 was to act for International Murex Technologies Inc in its challenge of an Australian patent granted over the hepatitis C virus, a naturally occurring biological material. The successful commercial resolution of that litigation in 1996 resulted in invitations to lead international patent teams in the United States as well as in UK and Europe (including in the European Patent Office).
He returned to Australia in 2002 in response to the Australian Law Reform Commission's inquiry into gene patents and commenced his PhD candidature simultaneously. He was awarded his PhD "The Patenting of Biological Materials in the Context of TRIPS" in 2005 and spent a year at Minter Ellison before accepting an invitation to join the Regulatory Institutions Network.
His first book "Gene cartels: biotech patents in the age of free trade" published in hardback in 2009 and paperback in 2010, has been critically acclaimed by Nobel laureates, leading economists and patent law experts from around the world. In 2008 he helped Cancer Council Australia, through his pro-bono advocacy, spearhead a campaign against BRCA gene patents leading to an Australian Senate Inquiry into gene patents. Having completed his 3-year post-doctoral ARC-funded research on IP and Aboriginal traditional knowledge with Professor Peter Drahos in 2010, he has retured to IP consultancy.

Experience

  • –present
    Adjunct Professor , Monash University
  • 2007–2010
    Post-doctoral Fellow, Australian National University
  • 2002–2005
    PhD - The Patenting of Biological Materials in the Context of TRIPS, Australian National University

Education

  • 2005 
    Australian National University, PhD

Publications

  • 2010
    Gene cartels: biotech patents in the age of free trade, Edward Elgar Publishing

Research Areas

  • Intellectual Property Law (180115)