Green Light for Use of ‘Whiskas Purple’

Mars Australia has been given the green light to register a colour - Whiskas Purple - as a trade mark for cat food. [more]

Fined $1450, for Buying a $10 Fake Louis Vuitton Bag in Italy

Tourists keen on snaring bargain fake designer goods might be better of forking out for the real thing after an Austrian tourist was fined 1000 euro ($1450) for attempting to buy a fake Louis Vuitton handbag. [more]

Kookaburra Sits on a Fortune: Ruling on Down Under Royalties

The composers of the Australian classic hit song Down Under will have to hand over a share of earnings from the song for breach of copyright, but the amount they will receive will be much smaller than sought. [more]

Commercialisation Australia to Cover IP Costs

Under the new Commercialisation Australia initiative up to $50,000 will be available to firms to access specialist business advice and services including intellectual property management. Eligible expenditure include fees for the cost of filing a patent application, patent search and examination fees, and annual patent maintenance fees. [more]

Warning: Unsolicited IP Services

IP Australia occasionally receives notification of instances in which inventors, designers and businesses have fallen victim to companies offering fraudulent IP protection, promotional or advertising services. [more]

Business Method Patents in Australia - Davies Collison Cave

The Australian Full Federal Court has recently clarified the extent to which business methods can be patented in Australia. A business method will be patentable provided it involves a physical effect in the sense of a concrete effect or phenomenon or manifestation... [more]