The Court of Appeal of New Zealand has overturned a decision to limit the period in which the trade mark owner was entitled to an account of profits in the cling-film trade mark infringement case Intellectual Property Development Corporation Pty Ltd and or v Primary Distributors New Zealand Limited and ors [2009] NZCA 429. In summary, the …
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Tiffany & Co has failed in its opposition to the extension of protection in Australia of an IRDA for the mark TIFFANY KOURY in Tiffany and Company v Tiffany C Koury [2009] ATMO 68. Tiffany & Co, the opponent, raised various grounds of opposition, however these principally relied upon establishing a likelihood of deception or confusion arising …
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There has been significant recent media coverage about the opposition by Apple to a Woolworths trade mark application, although this issue is not new. Major Australian retailer, Woolworths Ltd, launched a new brand for its supermarkets last year and sought registration of the following mark in almost every class. IP Australia advertised the application as accepted …
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In Schutz DSL (Australia) Pty Ltd v VIP Plastic Packaging Pty Ltd [2009] FCA 1049, the Court refused to grant an interlocutory injunction to restrain breaches of the Trade Practices Act as well as patent and trade mark infringement in light of undertakings given by the alleged infringer. The applicants (“Schutz”) sought an injunction on an interlocutory …
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auDA (the Australian domain name administrator) has issued a call for proposals for the creation of new 2LDs in the .au domain space and is also seeking public input on the proposal to reactivate two currently inactive 2LDs – conf.au and info.au. Currently, the active open 2LDs are: com.au, net.au, org.au, asn.au, and id.au.
The importance of considering whether a patent should be amended prior to any Court proceedings being commenced has been reinforced by the decision of Bennett J in Apotex Pty Ltd v Les Laboratoires Servier (No 2)[2009] FCA 1019. Servier had initially applied to amend its then patent application under section 104. The amendments were allowed and …
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The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) has introduced a new status for trade mark applications called “45 – Ready for examination”. Given trade mark applications are typically examined within five working days, applications are unlikely to have the new status for long.
In Australian Climate Exchange Ltd v Chicago Climate Exchange Inc [2009] ATMO 60 the Trade Marks Office considered the nature of use that a party must show to establish that it has a valid claim to ownership of a trade mark as well as the ground of opposition under section 58 of the Trade Marks Act 1995 relating to lack …
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Cantarella Bros Pty Limited (“Cantarella”) has successfully opposed a trade mark application for an image of a cup of coffee (as shown below) in respect of coffee, coffee extracts, coffee-based preparations and beverages and various other goods in Class 30 filed in the name of Société des Produits Nestlé S.A. (“Nestle”) in Cantarella Bros Pty Ltd …
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The Advisory Council on Intellectual Property (ACIP) has released a paper outlining options for reforming the legal tests for patentable subject matter. The options proposed by ACIP include modernising or replacing the existing test for patentable subject matter. Some of the options have the intent of allowing researchers and innovators greater clarity and transparency when it …
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