More Copyright in Selfies; Australian Politicians and other Animals

Our recent blog on ownership of copyright in animal selfies here has generated a couple of follow up questions. 1. Is there copyright in segments of wildlife films where a hidden camera is activated by detecting the animal’s movement? Yes. Cinematograph films (as the Copyright Act quaintly refers to them ) unlike photographs are not “works”, …
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Trade mark squatters in China

China follows a ‘first-to-file’ rule for obtaining trade mark rights. This means that the first person to file a trade mark application will generally have priority over a prior user of the trade mark in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).  There is no common law protection for unregistered trade marks in the PRC, except …
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Monkey Selfies, Elephant Expressionism – is there copyright in Australia in animal generated works?

If you read The Washington Post, The Telegraph, The Guardian or The Age (or any other major newspaper) in mid-August, you may be aware of the dispute between Wikipedia and photographer David Slater concerning the ownership of copyright in a selfie taken by a monkey who, according to the photographer, had ‘stolen’ his camera. If not, …
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Carbon Revolution develops world leading carbon fibre wheel technology

Australian company Carbon Revolution has developed, and is now commercially producing, the world’s first one piece carbon fibre automobile wheel. The commercially available CR-9 wheel (pictured), represents more than seven years of development, including the wheel design and manufacturing process that is the subject of intellectual property protection in a number of countries. The technology …
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