Woolworths rekindles pharmacies in supermarkets battle with new trademark application

October 24, 2013 Leave a comment

Woolworths rekindles pharmacies in supermarkets battle with new trademark application

Published 24 October 2013 10:34, Updated 24 October 2013 10:57

Sue Mitchell

Woolworths has lodged a new application with IP Australia to register the trademark “Pharmacy-in-Supermarket”. Photo: Glenn Hunt

Woolworths has not given up on its ambitions to enter the $16 billion pharmacy market, despite federal government policy that has locked out major retailers since 1990. The retailer has lodged a new application with IP Australia to register the trademark “Pharmacy-in-Supermarket”. A previous application lapsed. The trademark covers six classes of goods and services, including the sale of pharmaceutical and medical products provided by pharmacists. Australia’s largest retailer has wanted to sell pharmaceuticals and prescription medicines since 2003, when it first registered the Pharmacy-in-Supermarket trademark and outlined plans to sell drugs, medicines, toiletries and tissue products from pharmacies within its stores. Under the federal government’s Community Pharmacy agreement, which has been in place since 1990, pharmacies must be owned by pharmacists. Woolworths believes consumers are paying too much for prescription and over-the-counter medicines because of the inefficiencies of independent pharmacies. In 2004, then Woolworths chief executive Roger Corbett called the pharmacy industry “the biggest anti-competitive gerrymander in Australia”.

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