Without the confidence that patent rights can be enforced quickly and efficiently, when needed, the patent system will not stimulate innovation. For this reason, governments, academics, international institutions and the private sector have poured significant resources into gathering and...

Without the confidence that patent rights can be enforced quickly and efficiently, when needed, the patent system will not stimulate innovation. For this reason, governments, academics, international institutions and the private sector have poured significant resources into gathering and...

In the past, well-publicized adverse events have triggered surges in “tragedy” trade mark applications for signs such as “9/11” or “MH370”. Unsurprisingly (as at 31 March 2020) there were 57 trade mark applications for the word “COVID-19” across trade mark registers across the...

This article discusses the registrability of trade mark applications for “COVID-19” (and other “tragedy trade marks”) under Australian law. The Australian approach is instructive as it proceeds on doctrinal principles (such as distinctiveness), a common threshold for trade mark...

The effectiveness of trade mark protection depends on the enforceability of rights. However, little is known about how trade mark owners actually go about enforcing their trade marks in the civil courts. The few studies which have emerged recently show a high success rate for trade mark owners....

This paper provides an overview of the history of intellectual property laws in Australia and New Zealand, and directions into existing and emerging scholarship in this area. It discusses the swings and roundabouts of convergence and divergence in copyright, patent and trade mark legislation and...

The issue of private copying, and how it fits with copyright law, has hit front and centre of the current copyright exceptions review. While copying is widespread, and iPods are popular, under current Australian copyright law, almost all private copying - including time-shifting and...