Intellectual Property

March 5, 2015

Moral Rights: What are they?

The individual creators of works automatically have moral rights in their work, which can’t be given away by a license, or sold. Moral rights are distinct from copyright, and the creator holds the moral rights even though someone else may now own the economic rights as the copyright owner. It is important that you understand […]

November 13, 2014

Trademark Registrations are Vulnerable to Attack

Think that having a trademark registration makes it impenetrable to attack? Think again. A trademark registration will be vulnerable to attack if it is not being used properly. In these cases, simply renewing a trademark each 10 years will not provide indefinite protection on its own. There must be use of the mark in the [...]

August 12, 2014

Disputed Territory – Protecting Domain Names

A recent court decision highlights the difficulties of protecting domain names from exploitation by competitors. REA Group Ltd (REA) owns the domain names realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au from which it runs property portals. It also owns trademarks which feature the domain names realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au, along with the tag-line “Australia’s No.1 property site” and a logo. [...]

August 6, 2014

Protecting Trademarks in China

The year of the horse could usher in better opportunities to protect brand integrity with a new trademark law China introduced in May. As Australia’s largest trading partner, there’s no doubting the importance of the People’s Republic of China to the Australian economy. Yet despite long-standing relations between Australia and China, and a renewed eagerness [...]

June 26, 2014

Superman Wins in Fight with Melbourne Gym

Have you ever wondered if you might have picked a brand name that’s a little too close to someone else’s mark? Or have you seen someone else manage to get a trademark registered that’s a little too close for comfort to your registered mark? If there’s infringement, trademark registrations can be challenged. A recent Federal [...]

April 25, 2014

3D Printing

Design revolution or intellectual property nightmare? For a designer or manufacturer, 3D printing is set to transform the industry, providing an on-demand manufacturing model. However this new technology also brings with it many intellectual property protection challenges, with the very reason for its appeal (the ease of production and duplication of products) also creating easy [...]