News

This follows our October 2019 post in relation to the copyright issues involving the Aboriginal Flag.

Your product or service offering has its own “look & feel”, reflecting the image you want to create in the mind of your customer and the messages you want to convey. That’s the role of branding.

Some of the more interesting July 2020 Decisions…

Bacardi & Company Limited v Dickinson Distribution Group Pty Ltd [2020] ATMO 117 (1 July 2020) Sadly for BOMBAY SAPPHIRE gin fans, the Australian Trade Marks Office recently decided an opposition in favour of an applicant seeking registration of “Royal Bombay Premium Lager” for alcoholic beers and other Class 32 products.

IP Australia is trialling a process designed to protect trade mark owners and consumers from counterfeiters.

Some of the more interesting June 2020 Decisions…

G. & K. Fine Foods Pty Ltd v J DeLuca Fish Company, Inc. [2020] ATMO 97 (2 June 2020) G.& K. Fine Foods succeeded in an application for removal of the registered trade mark “by Delucas” for non-use. The owner’s evidence showed use of the registered mark prior to the relevant period.

As flagged in our April post, official fees are on the rise.

Some of the more interesting May 2020 Decisions…

Somfy Activites SA v Changchun Chengji Technology CO LTD [2020] ATMO 73 (5 May 2020) A Class 9 application for registration of INTEY was found to be deceptively similar to the above registered stylised mark for closely related goods in that class and registration was refused on this basis.

IP Australia has now released key findings of a project commissioned to explore the value of Indigenous Knowledge.

Some of the more interesting April 2020 Decisions…

Foxtel Management Pty Ltd v Beijing Qiyi Century Science & Technology Co Ltd [2020] ATMO 50 (1 April 2020) The Opponent, Australia’s leading provider of pay tv services with over 7 million subscribers, filed evidence of a significant reputation in trade marks comprising or consisting of the letters IQ.

IP Australia has just released an update on the Australian Intellectual Property (IP) Report.

In May 2019, The Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia and others provided feedback on the current fee structure to the Fee Review Panel of IP Australia. In particular, IPTA recommended the following changes in relation to official fees for trade mark matters…

Some of the more interesting March 2020 Decisions…

Victoria Beckham v VB Skinlab Pty Ltd (9 March 2020) Well-known celebrity Victoria Beckham tried to prevent registration of stylised VB SALON and VB SKINLAB trade marks in relation to salon services and personal care products but failed.

Some of the more interesting January 2020 Decisions…

Verge Design Ltd v Romani Clothing Co ATF the Dionyssiou Family Trust [2020] ATMO 1 (10 January 2020) Against a background of a number of years use of each mark in Australia, the opposition to registration of VERGE GIRL…

Erik Brunetti has used the trade mark FUCT for clothing in the U.S. since the early 1990’s.  As early as 1993 he sought registration but the mark was deemed immoral and scandalous and the application was refused…

In trade mark terms, “cluttering” is essentially a reference to overcrowding.  The core issue is whether the Register and consumers are compromised by trade marks remaining registered when they are not in use (and/or may never have been used)…