A recent Federal Court decision imposed significant pecuniary penalties on a franchisor as well as its sole director and national franchising manager for unfair dealings with franchisees ...

The joint venture will aim to offer a range of services for the benefit of health fund members in Australia, to deliver better health outcomes and risk management. Each company will contribute $10 ...

For a celebrity, your name is your business. It is no surprise then that celebrities will go to great lengths to protect their brand. This is clear from a recent flurry of A-list trade mark activity including by the likes of Kim Kardashian West, Kylie Jenner and Beyoncé. ...

In Technological Resources Pty Ltd v Tettman [2019] FCA 1889, the Federal Court decisively reversed yet another Australian Patent Office (the APO) decision to reject a patent application on the basis that it was not a 'manner of manufacture'. ...

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has recently published two reports identifying key hotspots for innovation, and key markets for patent, trade mark and design filing. ...

Companies should seek to make the most of their intangible assets. One way to do this is to use intellectual property assets as collateral to access funding. IP-rich businesses, SMEs and start-ups should keep this potential avenue in mind. ...

A pending trade mark application concerning the Indigenous term 'gumby gumby' highlights the controversies that arise at the intersection of intellectual property rights and Indigenous culture. ...

With negotiations underway for the free trade agreement between Australia and the European Union (the A-EU FTA), Australian businesses that produce, buy or sell EU and non-EU food, agricultural goods and spirit drinks have to confront the possibility that Australia will agree to give much stronger protection to the names of hundreds of EU products that indicate their geographical origin. We look at some of the key issues in the EU's proposal that would impact Australian businesses' operations and IP portfolios, and consider some of the agreed compromise positions in the EU's other recent FTAs. ...

Trade mark registration is intended to protect the brand of one trader's goods or services from that of another trader. Despite this, businesses in the food industry have increasingly sought trade mark registration for signs that inherently describe the food for which trade mark registration is sought. ...

The deadline is approaching to lodge an objection to the proposed geographical indications in the Australia-EU Free Trade Agreement. ...