Colour Trade Marks
A trade mark is considered to be a way for consumers to identify a particular good or service, typically known as a “brand”. Whilst most consumers are likely to readily identify a trade mark which is in the form of a logo, it is important to [...]
Protection of your Trade Mark internationally under the Madrid Protocol
One of the ways in which trade mark owners in Australia may apply for registration of their trade mark internationally is via a treaty known as the Madrid Protocol. A person who has registered or applied for a trade mark in a country party to the [...]
Protecting your Brand at the Border
As an intellectual property rights owner of, it is important that you are vigilant about protecting your intellectual property from infringement and maintaining the reputation and value of your brand and/or products. Counterfeit products which are imported in Australia can impact on and undermine the growth [...]
Advertisers Beware – Social Media Influencers paid to promote products must disclose the commercial nature of their posts
On 1 March 2017, a new provision was introduced into the Australian Association of National Advertisers’ (AANA) Code of Ethics (Code). The new provision stipulates that ‘Advertising or Marketing Communications must be clearly distinguishable as such to the relevant audience’. This is set to have [...]
When is unauthorised use of a trade mark not an infringement of the trade mark owner’s rights?
The owner of a registered trade mark has an exclusive right to use that trademark. But what happens when you use a trade mark without the permission of the trade mark owner? The Trade Marks Act provides protection to users of a trade mark in [...]
Copyright Held to be ‘Precious’
Copyright owners will welcome the recent decision of the Federal Court in Tolkien Estate Limited v Saltalamacchia [2016] FCA 944, where the estate of famous author J. R. R. Tolkien was awarded a smorgasbord of remedies for infringement of its copyright. Copyright generally Copyright is a statutory right under the [...]
Chemist Warehouse’s Claim For Misleading and Deceptive Conduct Dismissed
The recent decision in Verrocchi v Direct Chemist Outlet Pty Ltd [2016] FCAFC 104 by the Full Bench of the Federal Court of Australia (‘the FCA’) has clarified the protection afforded to the reputation of goods and services in circumstances where misleading or deceptive conduct is claimed to have arisen. [...]
All downhill for ski resort in its attempts to control ‘THREDBO’
Thredbo Village Thredbo is ski resort location in the Kosciusko National Park in NSW. Kosciuszko Thredbo Pty Limited, in conjunction with its subsidiary Thredbo Resort Centre Pty Ltd (collectively referred to as KT) owns (by way of a 99 year lease granted over the land in 1957) and operates, the [...]
Nappy Land, Nappyland, and nappyland.com.au A Dirty Mess for Trade Mark Law
CI JI Family Pty Limited v National Australian Nappies (NAN) Pty Limited [2014] FCA 79 In a recent Federal Court decision, it was found that having a registered trade mark, did not protect the trade mark owner from other legal action, when using its own registered mark. In this case, [...]
Brand Protection Strategies
Your brand is a major defining part of your business and legal rights arise in respect of it. You should understand the legal rights arising from your brand and why you should not only register appropriate trademarks but also consider key strategies involving them we detail here. If you do [...]