The Australian Federal Court found that Hungry Jack’s engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct for the statement that its BIG JACK burger contained 25% more beef than its well-known rival. However, the court denied McDonald’s trade mark infringement claim that BIG MAC was deceptively similar to BIG JACK.

In a long-standing trade mark war regarding the use of ORO for coffee, LAVAZZA successfully defended Cantarella’s trade mark infringement lawsuit by counter-claiming that Cantarella was not the owner of the trade mark ORO. LAVAZZA argued that Molinari was the true author of the trade mark ORO because Molinari has used ORO as a trade mark on coffee sold in Australia almost a year before Cantarella.

IP Australia offer a pre-application service called “TM HeadStart” where an Examiner from IP Australia will assess your “draft” trade mark application before you lodge the final version. By using TM Headstart to file your trade mark application, you will receive quick feedback from the Examiner as t whether there are any barriers to registration. You will also have an opportunity to amend your trade mark application before filing the final version.

Many Australian businesses look to expand in overseas markets and as part of this expansion need to protect their trade marks in foreign countries. According to IP Australia’s Australian IP Report 2023, the United States is one of the top 5 markets for Australian business filing trade marks overseas. However, the procedure for filing trade marks in the United States is significantly different to Australia. One of those differences is the requirement to submit “specimens” during the prosecution of the trade mark application and as part of the ongoing maintenance of the trade mark registration.

A carefully prepared settlement offer can create an environment that puts both parties under pressure to settle a legal dispute. In particular, the rejection of certain types of settlement offers may mean that the offeree will be ordered to pay more of your legal costs if you are successful.

Burns IP is certified by WEConnect International as a Women’s Business Enterprise. Businesses committed to gender diversity can be assured that by supporting Burns IP, you are supporting a women-controlled and women-run business and, more importantly, making a commitment to achieving gender diversity in the global market-place.

In Australia, you will infringe a trade mark if your trade mark is substantially identical or deceptively similar to a registered trade mark. Recent developments in Australia’s law raises questions about the use of surrounding circumstances in assessing deceptively similar trade marks.

Many of our client’s are seeking protection for trade marks related to virtual goods, metaverse, NFTs, and blockchain technology. To assist in protecting the trade marks of these emerging technologies, IP Australia has released guidelines for acceptable classification and descriptions.

Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) is now a key performance indicator for businesses. We discuss the important role that IP protection plays in driving ESG outcomes and safeguarding our client’s assets as they pursue and integrate new innovations, technologies and products within their businesses.

The recent decision of J Markovic in Firstmac Limited v Zip Co Limited [2023] FCA 540 is an important reminder to pay careful attention to the strength of common law trade mark rights in Australia.

Founded in Perth in 2013, the design and visual communication platform, Canva, is now a multinational company with over 125 million monthly users. Central to Canva’s success is its dedication to protecting its rapidly growing IP portfolio.

If you’re an IP (intellectual property) owner or interested in protecting your IP, you'll know that staying up to date with IP Australia’s service upgrades is hugely beneficial in protecting your business assets. IP Australia’s recent online service upgrade means business owners and lawyers can look forward to fast and efficient online lodging and filing, an improved national patent filing system, and more information regarding third-party fraud detection. Here’s how.

We help our clients navigate the complex world of IP across both Australia and internationally. We’ve put together some helpful resources for IP, copyright and Trademarks . Please note these are links to third party websites and their information is subject to review and change.

Effective 2 January 2021, the United States is increasing its fees for filing trademark applications, maintaining trade mark registrations and filing oppositions and cancellation actions before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

In a landmark change to Australian patent law, the High Court introduces the doctrine of exhaution. This decision will open the door for greater competition in the spare parts aftermarket. It is clear that the owner of a patented-product is entitled to modify or repair the product.

What does this mean for you?

Developments in 3D printing technology have improved the metal additive manufacturing of parts, and in particular the cost-effective manufacture of metal parts suitable for heavy industry and defence. However, there is still uncertainty for 3D printing in instances where the spare part itself is patent-protected.

IP Australia will increase their official fees for important trade mark, patent and design services effective as of 1 October 2020.

To protect SMEs in their commercial lease arrangements, the federal government has stepped in and created a National Cabinet Mandatory Code of Conduct “SME Commercial Leasing Principles During COVID-19”. The code will provide SMEs with payment relief in respect of their commercial leases during the COVID-19 pandemic. The principles in this code will be applied by each State government in regulations that should be in place shortly. What does this mean for you?

COVID-19 is having an impact on all areas of the economy. As a result, businesses may be unable to perform their contractual obligations or may wish to terminate contracts. But when can a party legally terminate a contract due to COVID-19?

We have put together a short guide to help clarify the impact of COVID-19 for your Australian legal contracts. You can download it here

We are pleased to provide you with a summary of patentable subject matter in Australia. We hope this short guide will help you in patent filing in Australia.