On Monday ASIC released an Information Sheet (Info 269) aimed squarely at putting social media influencers, and those who use them to market their financial products and services, on notice that their content may be in breach of the Corporations Act…

Domain name registrars understandably like selling new stock to existing customers, reluctant or otherwise. And so we have the introduction of .au “direct” domain names – for example, bennettandco.au. This development is not novel to Australia – it…

On 17 December 2021, the governments of Australia and the UK announced the key terms of their highly anticipated free trade agreement (the Agreement).1 Both governments are lauding the benefits that the Agreement will bring to their respective…

On 2 December 2020, Australia’s federal legislature introduced a bill entitled the Designs Amendment (Advisory Council on Intellectual Property Response) Bill 2020 to amend the Designs Act 2003 (“Designs Act”). As the name suggests, the bill was…

Como en muchas jurisdicciones, la legislación australiana ofrece la oportunidad a terceros de oponerse a solicitudes de marcas. No obstante, el procedimiento de oposición a una marca australiana (como en la mayoría de las jurisdicciones Anglo-…

Iron ore prices are always closely monitored but particularly so at the moment. The collapse in production by Brazilian iron ore mining giant Vale as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, and increasing Chinese steel mill profitability, high…

The Australian Football League (AFL) presently has eighteen teams in its competition, and there has been discussion for several decades about the prospect of a Tasmanian team. The creation of a Tasmanian team at the elite professional level of AFL is…

For classics devotees, news in 2016 that an illustrated fragment of Virgil’s Aeneid that dates back 1,600 years was available online was a cause of (sombre) excitement. The Vatican has for much of the past decade been digitalising and making…

On 7 November 2019, the Australian Federal Government’s Minister for Industry, Innovation, and Science, Karen Andrews, announced the Australian government’s official AI ethics framework. This is a voluntary set of parameters for businesses and…

Librarians and archivists are increasingly giving consideration to capturing as much written historical knowledge as possible. This has partly been caused by an increasing recognition that the internet is an ephemeral place (tangible material is less…

Back in 2016, the makers of the notorious card game Cards Against Humanity launched an online vote to determine the fate of Pablo Picasso’s linocut print, Tête de Faune. The two options given to voters were: first, to donate the work to the Art…

The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia has handed down its decision in PKT Technologies Pty Ltd (formerly known as Fairlight.Au Pty Ltd) v Peter Vogel Instruments Pty Ltd [2019] FCAFC 216 (5 December 2019) (NSD2091/2018). At first instance,…

On 24 September 2019 the ACCC released its final report on the wine grape market study. The report details the ACCC’s recommendations relating to: quality assessments. Not all grape growers produce wine, of course, and winemakers often source grapes…

By volume, most Australian wine is exported. The United Kingdom has been a major export market for Australian wines since the 1990s. It is Australia’s number one export destination by volume. It is also Australia’s third largest export destination by…

On 31 July 2019 the Australian Registrar of Trade Marks published the decision of JB Hi-Fi Limited [2019] ATMO 115. It is a decision on revocation – a rare matter for determination by a delegate of the Registrar, no doubt because the omission giving…

An invitation to a seminar to be held in South Australia on 12 September 2019 entitled “Geographical Indications & the EU-Australia FTA” and delivered by “Delegation of the European Union to Australia” contains the following teaser: “The European…

The Australian Taxation Office has had in place a Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) rebate for many years. The WET rebate allows wine producers to claim a rebate on the quantum of paid WET. Before 1 July 2018, the maximum amount that could be claimed each…

A dual approach – copyright and trade mark searches prior to launching a brand Trade mark searches are regarded by courts as of paramount importance in the adoption of a brand. There is a decision of the Federal Court of Australia which specifically…

The European Union provides for Protected Designations of Origin for foods. In Spain, a dairy company called Industrial Quesera Cuquerella SL (IQC) sells three types of cheeses manufactured in the La Mancha region. These cheeses feature a…

In late March 2019, American comic book publisher DC Comics filed a notice of opposition with the European Union’s office of intellectual property against a trade mark application made by Spanish La Liga soccer team Valencia. The objection is against…