2018 marks the publication of the first Australian Trademarks Law Review from the Law Review series. The Law Review collates cross-border legal insights and analysis across a range of practice areas and is a useful resource for in-house counsel of global organizations.
The Australian chapter of 2018 Trademarks Law Review was co-authored by Frances Drummond and Sophie Lees, both intellectual property lawyers based in Sydney.
The chapter provides a high level introduction Australian trade mark law and describes the process for registering and enforcing a trade marks in both a civil and a criminal context, which may be useful for in-house counsel who are managing brands and who do not have an intellectual property background.
Alongside an introduction to core trade mark law principles, the chapter provides insights into some of the key trade mark law cases of the last 12 months. Significant cases in 2017 included a decision about trade mark infringement through meta tag use and a judgement that explored the relevance of intention to the Australian Consumer Law civil action of misleading and deceptive conduct.
Finally, the chapter offers predictions as to the key developments that may impact the Australian trade mark system in 2018.This includes analysis of the positive, but cautious, approach that the Australian Government has taken to the sweeping reforms proposed by the Productivity Commission in its 2016 report on the Australian intellectual property system.
Read the full text of the article, The Trademarks Law Review – Edition 1.
