Recent Articles

I thought cats were colour blind

July 01, 2010 06:19

In Mars Australia Pty Ltd (formerly Effem Foods Pty Ltd) v Société des Produits Nestlé SA [2010] FCA 639 the Federal Court has confirmed that Mars has the exclusive right to use the colour “Whiskas Purple” as a trade mark in relation to its cat food products. With...

.co Top Level Domain Name Sunrise Period Ends 10 June, 2010

June 05, 2010 09:26

Jay Hines, a partner at US intellectual property attorneys Cantor Colburn LLP, has flagged a looming deadline. Jay writes: "Colombia recently liberalized the administration of the .co country code domain name to open it up globally and streamline the registration process. Trademark owners...

Lion mauled by High Court of Australia

May 28, 2010 21:55

An Australian brewing giant has been forced to change the name of an entire beer range after losing a trade mark infringement case in the High Court of Australia brought by a US wine giant. Mmmm, beer. Reminds me of that famous exchange between the then High Court judges and counsel during...

High Court sits to determine standing

April 27, 2010 04:13

In one of the few recently decided High Court cases dealing with trade mark issues, a unanimous decision was handed down in Health World Limited v Shin-Sun Australia Pty Ltd [2010] HCA 13 allowing an appeal relating to the meaning of ‘aggrieved’ under the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth) (the...

She will not be Apple's

March 19, 2010 05:46

Australian idiom for “it will be alright” is “she’ll be apples” but recently, Apple Inc found that she won’t. A recent decision by a Delegate of the Registrar of Trade Marks (Apple Inc v Wholesale Central Pty Ltd [2010] ATMO 7) has found against Apple Inc., and...

Trade Mark Use: We need a more balanced solution

Nicholas Weston
November 17, 2009 04:32

The 12 November 2009 decision in Alcon Inc v Bausch & Lomb (Australia) Pty Ltd [2009] FCA 1299 focuses almost exclusively on whether the defendant had used the plaintiff’s trade mark ‘as a trade mark’. Alcon has a registered trade mark ‘BSS’ for ophthalmic...

Cannot Understand Non-Latin Domain Name Endings?

Nicholas Weston
November 17, 2009 03:39

From 16 November 2009, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will take the first step in a long process to introduce the option of ending domain names in non-Latin characters with an aim is to improving access for 800 million-plus Internet users in non-Latin script using...

Apple picks Woolworths in trade marks dispute

Nicholas Weston
October 06, 2009 05:01

Apple is opposing registration as a trade mark the new logo of Australian supermarket chain Woolworths, claiming that the stylised green W is too similar to its own famous apple logo. Woolworths’ applications were submitted in August 2008, and seek to include a wide range...

Nicholas Weston - INTA tilts at new internationalised GTLDs and ccTLDs coming in 2010

Nicholas Weston
September 07, 2009 06:32

The Full Employment Act for Domain Name Practitioners, otherwise known as the new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) ‘internationalised domain names’ (IDN) program proposed by ICANN (the acronym obsessed, global domain name bureaucrats), could be active on the Internet by the end of...

Nicholas Weston - Guylian sells chocolate sea shells, but Court not so sure

Nicholas Weston
August 22, 2009 12:15

In a recent decision handed down by the Federal Court, long time chocolate manufacturer, Chocolaterie Guylian N.V. (Guylian) has been unsuccessful in its attempt to register as a trade mark its seahorse-like shape praline chocolate: (Chocolaterie Guylian N.V. v Registrar of Trade...