Tag archives: Australia

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

CIIs – The Australian Full Court Encompass Decision

By Helen Macpherson (AU) and Harrison Ottaway (AU) on October 29, 2019 Posted in General, Patents

Overview The patentability of computer implemented inventions (CII) has long been a contentious topic in Australian patent law. A few months ago, we wrote about Justice Robertson’s decision in Rokt Pte Ltd v Commissioner of Patents, which overturned the Australian Patent Office’s rejection of a patent application for a CII relating to a digital advertising … Continue reading

Review of sugar labelling a sweet victory for health advocates, and yet more packaging and labelling changes required for business in Australia?

By Georgina Hey (AU) and Emily Hong on September 4, 2019 Posted in General

Shoppers reaching for a sweet, refreshing bottle of soft drink may soon find themselves confronted by the sour reality of 33 small icons of teaspoons – equivalent to the average sugar content of 1.25 litres of soft drink (see here). The Australian and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation (Forum) recently announced a review … Continue reading

Fakes welcome? IP protection lags behind for Indigenous artworks in Australia

By Helen Macpherson (AU) and Isobel Taylor (AU) on August 12, 2019 Posted in Copyright, General

In a symbolic win for Indigenous artists, the Federal Court of Australia has recently ordered a seller of fake Indigenous-style souvenirs to pay AU$2.3 million in pecuniary penalties for contraventions of the misleading and deceptive conduct provisions of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). While the Court’s ruling appears to be a positive move in the … Continue reading

Calidad v Seiko – defining the scope of the implied licence

By Helen Macpherson (AU) and Harrison Ottaway (AU) on July 30, 2019 Posted in General

One of the more controversial questions in patent law is the extent to which a patentee may continue to exercise control over patent-protected goods after their sale. This question invokes competing tensions between the rights of the patentee and the rights of the purchaser to free enjoyment of goods they have purchased. In a number … Continue reading

The highs and lows of the 2019 Australian IP Report

By Georgina Hey (AU) and Benjamin Kende on July 15, 2019 Posted in Trademark

The highs and lows of the 2019 Australian IP Report To mark World Intellectual Property Day, IP Australia released its seventh edition of the Australian Intellectual Property Report 2019 (Report). The Report provides a snapshot of the Australian IP landscape in 2018 by consolidating data, highlighting trends and critically analysing its future. In this article, … Continue reading

Ghost of rulings past: why virtual designs are not yet covered by Australian IP law

By Isobel Taylor (AU) and Georgina Hey (AU) on July 15, 2019 Posted in General

Virtual or non-physical designs, which include graphical user interfaces and screen icons, are designs that impact the appearance of a product through software displayed on an electronic screen. Many of these designs have become ubiquitous in our everyday lives. Well-known and familiar virtual designs range from the Snapchat ghost app button on our phones to … Continue reading

Are you kicking goals when it comes to social media activity, or heading to the sin bin?

By Rebecca Brenikov (AU) and Alyson Poole (AU) on May 12, 2019 Posted in Advertising, Copyright, General

They say that a picture tells a thousand words. But as became apparent in Australia recently, posting a picture on social media can result in a thousand (derogatory and sexist) words. A photograph posted on Twitter by Seven AFL (taken by photographer Michael Wilson), resulted in Australian female AFLW star, Taylor Harris, hitting all the … Continue reading

Don’t Rokt the boat: developments in the patentability of computer implemented inventions in Australia

By Helen Macpherson (AU) and Isobel Taylor (AU) on May 7, 2019 Posted in General

With the continued rise of digital technologies and mining of big data, computer implemented inventions (CIIs) are being increasingly utilised in a wide range of industries. CIIs enable companies to deliver more personalised products and solutions to consumers, whether in the form of more personalised medical treatments and diagnostic tools in the pharmaceutical and healthcare … Continue reading