Google AdWords Policy Change for Australia
As reported in April 2013, Google amended its AdWords policy in Australia allowing a company to purchase a competitor’s trade mark as a keyword in order to trigger sponsored ads during Google searches.
Google has now gone one step further and allowed resellers and informational sites from 27 July 2014 to use trade marks in ad text in Australia and New Zealand under certain circumstances. Read More
Your IP Law Report in 17 Syllables
“Judgments are just getting longer and more complicated, I can’t keep up with all of them!”
A familiar refrain uttered by many a lawyer and law student alike, especially in the modern, digital age (although we expect the Courts might refer to the increasing volume of electronic evidence filed by parties in proceedings as a contributing factor!)
So, in that context, could the essence of a judgment be distilled into haiku (short form Japanese poetry consisting of three phrases of five, seven and five syllables)? Well, we are sure going to try! Read More
BP’s Application for Registration of the Colour Green as a Trade Mark Rejected by IP Australia
IP Australia has again made it clear that the assessment of a colour trade mark under section 41 of the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth) should be no different from the assessment of any other trade mark.
However in rejecting BP’s application for registration of the colour green, the Office noted that while most objects have to be some colour, the act of applying a colour to a product will not act as an identifier for that product. Read More
Additional Damages Awarded for Trade Mark Infringement
Trade mark owners can take encouragement from the Federal Court of Australia’s readiness to award additional damages as a deterrent from further infringement. The Court made its first award of additional damages for trade mark infringement in a case about kebabs, where a claim for actual loss from an infringement could not be made. Additional damages are a useful weapon in a brand owner’s arsenal. Read More
It is very difficult for companies to effectively own colour, as was enforced in Local Directories’ Federal Court victory in its long running dispute against Telstra. Telstra claimed that by its use of the colour yellow for phone directories, Local Directories had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct and passing off. The Court dismissed these claims and upheld that Telstra’s advertisements published in certain Yellow Pages directories were in fact misleading. Read More
On the evening of Sunday 11 May 2014, representatives from various K&L Gates’ offices hosted approximately 250 clients and friends of the firm at a reception in Hong Kong during the International Trademark Association (INTA) annual conference. INTA’s annual conference is the most important intellectual property conference each year for IP professionals around the world.
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Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith is famous for supporting Australian businesses that grow and produce products. One of the products he is associated with is ‘OZEMITE’, which was supposed to be a yeast based product similar to the Australian icon ‘Vegemite‘ (for our U.S. based readers, it is said that no Australian will travel anywhere in the world without a jar of Vegemite in their luggage – it is a national icon, like the kangaroo). Read More
The recent announcement that leading Australian fashion designer Alannah Hill has separated from the label that bears her name (while seeking to continue to work in the fashion industry), is yet another recent example of a ‘name’ and a company parting ways. Another example of ‘brand separation’ that has received a lot of media attention in recent times is the dispute between former racing car driver and tyre salesman Bob Jane, and the company that bears his name, Bob Jane T-Marts. Read More
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