Matt Allen (AU)

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Simpler by Design

By Georgina Hey (AU) and Matt Allen (AU) on January 19, 2021 Posted in Intellectual Property

Changes to the design system under consideration set to benefit Australian Designers – Designs Amendment (Advisory Council on Intellectual Property Response) Bill 2020 As we kick off 2021, Australian designers may soon be bringing in the New Year with new design laws. The Designs Amendment (Advisory Council on Intellectual Property Response) Bill 2020 (the Bill) … Continue reading

A smooth [not crunchy] win in Bega’s favour

By Matt Allen (AU), Alyson Poole (AU) and Frances Drummond (AU) on June 18, 2020 Posted in Trademark

The facts of the 2019 Federal Court decision in Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC v Bega Cheese Limited were far from simple. The case centred around a battle between Kraft and Bega, involving considerations of ownership and divestment of rights in trade dress and goodwill and internal and external trade mark licensing structures. Ultimately, the … Continue reading

Demand may be booming, but are breaches looming? We discuss compliance with Australian Country of Origin labelling regulations in the context of COVID-19

By Georgina Hey (AU), Alyson Poole (AU) and Matt Allen (AU) on May 13, 2020 Posted in General

In recent articles, we have commented on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Country of Origin (COO) labelling regulations as they relate to food packaging and more recently, the ACCC’s focus for 2020 on misleading or deceptive claims relating to food packaging. Our previous articles can be reviewed here and here.… Continue reading

Healthy treat or misleading deceit? ACCC intends to crackdown on misleading claims in food marketing

By Georgina Hey (AU), Alyson Poole (AU) and Matt Allen (AU) on March 30, 2020 Posted in Advertising

In February 2020, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released its compliance and enforcement policy and priorities for 2020. Amongst the ACCC’s key enforcement priorities will be a focus on misleading conduct in relation to the sale and promotion of food products, including health and nutritional claims, credence claims and country of origin claims. … Continue reading

My oh my Myanmar!

By Georgina Hey (AU) and Matt Allen (AU) on February 5, 2020 Posted in Trademark

The Myanmar government has recently flagged its intention to implement new trade mark laws commencing mid-2020. This is good news for global brand owners hoping for Myanmar’s laws to be better aligned to international trade mark standards. However, brand owners must take positive steps to ensure that their trade marks remain protected under the new … Continue reading

Authorised use or something fishy? – Implications for trade mark ‘use’ in Australia in the inter-company context

By Georgina Hey (AU) and Matt Allen (AU) on November 27, 2019 Posted in Trademark

Trade mark licensing arrangements can often offer significant benefits for trade mark owners by increasing brand exposure and royalty revenue streams. However, as we have previously reported, recent Australian cases (such as Lodestar Anstalt v Campari America LLC [2016] FCAFC 92 (Lodestar)) demonstrated that licensing arrangements may expose trade mark owners to the risk of … Continue reading