General

With the number of startups increasing each year, many new business owners are wondering how they can make their product or service stand out in a growing sea of competition. How do successful businesses get their products into the hands of consumers year in year out? And what are they doing with their branding that […]

As Australia prepares to ratify the new Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement in coming weeks, many are wondering what to expect. How will it alter Australia’s existing trade mark laws?  How will it benefit trademark holders? And what will it mean for your business? On 5 October 2015, five years of negotiations culminated in the finalisation of

A distinctive trademark is the footing for a stellar reputation and the foundation of every successful business. But what exactly is a trademark? What is the relationship between trademarks, company names, business names and domain names?  And why should you register your mark, even if you have been using it for decades? With online activity

In 2014, the Canadian government began a push towards a number of changes to the Canadian intellectual property framework designed to modernise the current practice and to align with international best practices. These changes include: Use of the Nice Classification system – the Nice Classification is the international trade mark classification standard of goods which

Most of you will be aware of the goods and services classification system under the Nice Classification which is applied for the registration of trade marks. There are currently 45 classes of goods and services (34 goods classes and 11 services classes) in the Nice Classification. Each class provides a “class heading” which is a representative

In April 2015, a Chinese court handed down a US$15.8 million dollar judgement against the US shoe manufacturer, New Balance for infringing a third party Chinese character mark. It was held that New Balance has used, knowingly and without authorisation the mark “新百伦” (pronounced as Xin Ba Lun meaning “New Balance” in English) in connection

The Peoples Republic of China Trade Marks Office (TMO) has recently adopted changes in the handling of non-standard descriptions of trade mark goods and services. Direct Filing with the TMO, including priority applications As a result of amendments to the PRC Trade Mark Law, the TMO is required to complete examination of a new application

Effective 29 May 2015, the UAE (pursuant to Cabinet Decree (9/2015)) increased the official government fees payable for various transactions at the Ministry of Economy, including trade mark fees. There is no transitional provision so the increase will apply to all fees payable after 29 May 2015. The increases to the official trade mark fees

On 21 March 2015 The Ministry of Economy and Trade in Lebanon declared a revision of the power of attorney requirements. Effective 1 May 2015, all powers of attorney submitted for handling all intellectual property matters in Lebanon by foreign (non-Lebanese) companies must be legalised by the Lebanese consulate. Applications filed prior to this date

On 20 February a public consultation paper was released detailing a number of new proposals put forward by IP Australia with a view of streamlining Australia’s IP systems. According to IP Australia, there are a number of administrative processes that differ between IP rights which are overly burdensome and take too long to resolve. The