14 March 2013

On 26 March 2013, the Trademark Clearing House for the new generic Top Level Domain (new gTLDs) names will open for recordals.

In June, 2011, ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names) approved a program to expand the internet’s domain name system through the introduction of new generic domains. Instead of being restricted to 22 domains currently in use (eg .com, .net, .org) organisations and companies have been able to file to create new registries such as .pizza, .hotel and .google.

It is expected the first of the new gTLDs will be approved to be rolled out as early as May of this year.

Because of the large volume of registries (potentially over 1,300), concerns were raised by brand owners about the challenge of enforcing their intellectual property rights against third parties. Continue Reading »

27 November 2012

Introduction:

To coincide with the implementation of various international trade mark agreements, amendments are being made to the Trade Mark Regulations by an Order in Council.

The amendments will come into force from 10 December 2012. Continue Reading »

by Emily Ellis and David McLellan | 24 October 2012

Introduction:

From 10 December 2012 IPONZ will offer New Zealand brand owners the ability to file applications to register their trade marks internationally through the Madrid Protocol system.

This means applicants wishing to trade in foreign states party to the Madrid system may file a single trade mark application and designate those states rather than file individual national applications in each separate country. Continue Reading »

by David McLellan | 26 September 2012

CNET is reporting that Amazon has asked a US District Court judge to dismiss Apple’s false-advertising claim. The dispute is the continuation of a lawsuit filed by Apple in April 2011 stemming from Amazon’s alleged misappropriation of the mark APP STORE (US TM Reg. no. 77525433). Continue Reading »

by David McLellan | 07 September 2012

In the recent decision of the Federal Court of Australia, Marshall J held that the trade marks AUSTRALIA POST and DIGITAL POST AUSTRALIA were not confusingly or deceptively similar in relation to digital mail services (see Australia Postal Corporation v Digital Post Australia Pty Ltd (no 2) [2012] FCA 862).
Continue Reading »

by John Terry | 29 August 2012

Commerce Minister Craig Foss has announced an end to the stalemate with software patents in the new Patents Bill. The previous approach of a complete ban on software patents with “guidelines” to allow certain exceptions was finally acknowledged to be unworkable. The Bill has now been amended as follows:

Continue Reading »

by Jonty Ellis and David McLellan | 16 July 2012

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names (ICANN), the body that regulates the internet’s domain name system, revealed the names and designations of the applicants for the first round of the new generic Top Level Domain (ngTLDs) on June 13th. The full list is available here.

Background

In June, 2011, ICANN approved a program to expand the internet’s domain name system through the introduction of new generic domains. Instead of being restricted to 22 domains currently in use (eg .com, .net, .org) organisations and companies would be able to register new gTLDs like .pizza or .hotel or .cadbury.

Continue Reading »

07 June 2012

The Australian Patent and Trade Marks Office (IP Australia) has increased some of its fees relating to Trade Marks.

Filings

From 1 October 2012, the cost of filing an application per class will increase from $160 AU to $200 AU.

IP Australia is introducing a reduced filing fee of $120AU for applications filed using the goods and services classification “pick list”. This allows applicants to choose goods and services specifications from a list of pre-approved designations.

Continue Reading »

by David McLellan | 31 May 2012

The New Zealand Domain Name Commission, a subsidiary of InternetNZ, has announced proposals to extend the .nz country code top level domain (ccTLD). This would allow for registrations for domain names at the “second level” for the first time.

Currently the .nz domain name sits on the “third level” which means applicants are restricted to registrations within the following 14 sub-level domains:

Continue Reading »