By Maddison Reznik, IP Lawyer and Trade mark Attorney. Our client, Clothing the Gaps, recently posted an update on their Instagram in relation to the trade mark application. This is regarding “Always Was, Always Will Be” in class 25 (clothing, footwear, etc.) (TM Application). This can be found here. Clothing the Gaps is an Aboriginal social enterprise fashion label. It uses its profits to support the Clothing The Gaps Foundation. This has been set up for the purpose of supporting and advocating for Indigenous health and rights. Furthermore, Clothing the Gaps sells apparel featur ..read more

By Maddison Reznik, Lawyer and Trade Mark Attorney It is a commercial reality that businesses want to improve efficiencies whilst retaining the best quality output. For some businesses, this means investing in artificially intelligent technology (“AI”). However, questions arise as to whether businesses will be giving up some benefits when recruiting AI to do their bidding. Especially considering the potential loss in intellectual property rights in original works. We recently posted an article setting out the recent developments in patent law, accessible via this link, however the position ..read more

The Federal Court of Australia handed down its decision in Thaler v Commissioner of Patents [2021] FCA 879 on 30 July 2021. As a result, The Honourable Justice Beach over-turned the decision of the Australian Patent Office. Hence, they found that an artificial intelligence (AI) system named DABUS could be the inventor of an Australian patent. Subsequently, this case is part of a multi-jurisdictional test case being heard around the world, with this decision coming just days after the South African Patent Office proceeded to issue the patent. Prior to this decision, it was thought th ..read more

Greetings, humans! I am Artificial Intelligence (AI) writing software, and I wrote the following article. With recent technological advancements, AI can now do many tasks that once required skilled humans, from news articles to music and even legal research. The Rise of Artificial Intelligence As Artificial Intelligence gets better and more sophisticated, we can expect to see more of it in our daily lives. One field that’s been a particular focus for AI development is art—a discipline that has long relied on human creativity and skill. Recently, AI-generated art has become a phenomenon in the ..read more

It’s not often that the reading of a royalties clause in a drug development and licensing agreement puts one in mind of hits from times gone by. It was around 1964 that the Rolling Stones told us that time was on their side. In the late 80s, Cher expressed a universal angst with her wish to turn back time. And of course, who can forget the fact that Paul McCartney believes in yesterday. So how did we get here? A History of Patent Royalties While in Australia inventors of new technologies can obtain royalties for the use of patents after the patent has expired, this is not the case in the US ..read more

On 30 July 2021, the Federal Court of Australia over-turned the decision of the Australian Commissioner of Patents, and instead found that an artificial intelligence (AI) system named DABUS could be the inventor of an Australian patent. BUT on 13 April 2022, the Full Federal Court reverted back to the outcome reached by the Commissioner of Patents, holding that AI-system DABUS cannot be considered the inventor of a patent for the purpose of the Patents Act 1990 (Cth) (the Act). What did the Full Court consider in their decision? The Full Court looked to the histor ..read more

On 24 March 2022, the direct .au domain name will launch and be available for licensing from .au Domain Administrator (auDA) accredited Registrars. The new domain level means website names can be shortened by dropping the .com (or other variants featured in domain names) to become just “website.au”. Where there is no existing domain name using the same prefix, the .au direct name will be available for general public licensing from 24 March 2022. existing holders with a current Australian domain name (such as .com.au or .net.au) can apply for priority allocation to a direct .au name until 20 Se ..read more

By Rhys Munzel, Patent Attorney & Senior Associate It is very common for businesses introducing a new product to the market to consider intellectual property protection after the product has successfully launched. A business may say, “this is selling well, how do I stop my competitors from copying my product?” Business are then surprised to learn that their own sales or advertising of their product can be held against them in seek patent or design protection. Most understand that an invention needs to be new before it can be validly patented or registered in respect of a design. For ..read more

Designs Amendments (Advisory Council on Intellectual Property Response) Bill 2020 passed by Parliament. On 30 August 2021, the Federal Parliament passed the Designs Amendments (Advisory Council on Intellectual Property Response) Bill 2020 (Cth) (“the Bill”). This sets out a number of amendments to the Designs Act 2003 (Cth) (“the Act”). Other than various technical changes, the Bill will most notably introduce a 12-month grace period to file a design application after its first public disclosure. Below is a summary of the designs amendments. As well as some brief comments ..read more