Trade Marks

Last weekend, the Aboriginal Flag was absent from the AFL’s Indigenous Round for the first time in fourteen years. The Indigenous Round highlighted that the Australian Aboriginal Flag is still marred in copyright and licensing controversies. While many Aboriginal persons, Aboriginal-owned businesses, organisations acknowledging and supporting Aboriginal culture and history, as well as many members … Read more

1. Australia has a sizeable revenue stream and steady economy. The Australian economy has grown at a healthy pace for nearly three decades.[1] In 2019, Australia was ranked the 4th wealthiest nation in terms of median wealth per adult head.[2] Despite Australia comprising only 0.3% of the world’s population, its economy was expected to be the 14th largest economy … Read more

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the newly founded military brand – the U.S. Space Force – is losing a trade mark battle with streaming giant Netflix for its new comedy show of the same name. Netflix has reportedly already secured the trade mark rights to “Space Force” in Europe, Australia, Mexico and elsewhere. Like Australia, the … Read more

The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia unanimously dismissed Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC’s (Kraft) appeal of a decision entitling Bega Cheese Limited (Bega) to exclusive use of the distinctive trade dress or ‘get up’, consisting of ‘a jar with yellow lid, yellow label, blue or red peanut device (logo) and having a … Read more

Former Spice Girl and fashion designer Victoria Beckham recently appealed IP Australia’s decision to register two trade marks featuring the initials “VB” for use on cosmetics by a Sydney-based skincare company VB Skinlab Pty Ltd. Beckham contends that the trade marks “would be likely to deceive or cause confusion” in Australia because her fashion and … Read more

Apple has lost an appeal to the Australian Federal Court to register its “APP STORE” trade mark in Australia because its trade mark is unable to distinguish its goods and services. Apple filed a trade mark for the words “APP STORE” on 18 July 2008 and it received an objection based on the existence of … Read more