26th February 2018 - Lara Alexandra

W3IP Law is a specialist firm that focuses on intellectual property, commercial law agreements and Internet law services. As a technology-based law firm, we know that our clients require value, easy to access legal services, fast turn-around and strategic support with their legal requirements.

Our highly creative clients include e-commerce, software, technology, drone, and fashion businesses.  We support start-ups and a range of online businesses including digital media, online retail, the arts and sciences.

We provide efficient and high quality legal services customised to the particular needs of each client, taking a long-term approach to our client’s intellectual property and commercialisation objectives.

We can assist you with the negotiation and drafting of all types of commercial agreements including confidentiality, consultancy, distribution, software, and licensing agreements to leverage your income streams.

The Four Pillars of Intellectual Property

Trade Marks

A trade mark will be examined by IP Australia on application to determine whether it meets the requirements of the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth) and the Regulations. A report will be sent to the application or the agent to enable customers to understand and address issues as to outstanding grounds for rejection, formality requirements and appropriate options.

Grounds for rejection are explained and relevant documentation attached to reports where appropriate including details of any conflicting trade marks. The Examiner will consider the merits of all submissions made by applications or their agents.

Designs

Design registration protections the visual appearance of products which have an industrial or commercial use. A design refers to the shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation which gives a product its unique appearance.

For a design to be registered it must be new and distinctive. The principal object of design registration is that protection is given to the visual form of an article. Designs must be registered in order for rights to subsist and they must undergo a substantive examination process before infringement rights can be enforced.

Patents

A patent is a right granted for any device, substance, method or process which is new, inventive and useful.

A patent is a monopoly right to commercialise an invention that has been disclosed to the public. The majority of Australian patents are standard patents. The usual maximum term of a standard patent is 20 years which is only granted after the patent application has been subject to examination for compliance and met the requirements for patentability under the Patents Act 1990 (Cth).

The innovation patent was introduced to provide a relatively quick and inexpensive way for inventors to obtain patent protection for inventions having a relatively short commercial life. Unlike standard patents, examination is not required before grant.  The term of an innovation patent is 8 years.

Copyright

Australian copyright law is governed by the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Copyright is essentially the right to prevent the copying of works and other subject matter, such as films, sound recordings and broadcasts.

The general rule is that the “author” is the first owner of copyright when that author gives expression to the work if the work is a work of text, music, a computer program, a dramatic work or an artistic work. This rule may not apply if the author has signed a document which states that another person will own the copyright or if the author was an employee who created the work as part of his or her usual duties.

There is no requirement of registration before copyright protection arises nor of a particular artistic quality but but in the case of a work, it should be “original” and the work should be reduced to some material or tangible form.

Lara Alexandra, Legal Assistant and Trade Mark Administrator

We are a team of trade mark attorney and IP specialists based on Gold Coast and Sydney. If you have any questions about trade mark and brand protection, contact us on 1300 77 66 14
Disclaimer. The material in this post represents general information only and should not be taken to be legal advice.