A New Zealand-based association representing manuka honey beekeepers has lost its opposition to an application for the ‘Australian Manuka’ trade mark by a Byron Bay honey producer, with IP Australia finding the word ‘manuka’ did not specifically refer to honey made in NZ.
IP Australia has refused to register a patent acquired by Elanco Australasia from Bayer covering a lice treatment, after amendments failed to address findings that the patent lacked an inventive step.
The a2 Milk Company has urged the Federal Court to allow its ‘a2 Milk’ and ‘True a2’ trade marks to be registered, arguing they’re not merely descriptive of a protein in milk.
Retail tech and dating start-up Instagoods has appealed a successful challenge of its Instadate trade mark registration by social media giant Instagram.
The Beatles hit producer EMI has lost its “ambitious” opposition to Australian craft company Spotlight registering ‘Abbey Road’ as a trade mark for its yarn products.
A trade mark application by a China Australia trade association contains an “identical copy” of the Sydney Opera House’s sail design, the trust behind the iconic landmark has claimed as it seeks revocation of the mark on the grounds of bad faith.
Global property giant REA Group has blocked a trade mark application by Real Estate Store, a new venture of a former director of Reserve Hotel Group, with IP Australia finding there was a “real and tangible danger” that consumers would think the companies were connected.
The Rolling Stones has successfully opposed registration of the ‘Jagger & Stone’ clothing trade mark in Australia, with a delegate finding the name was designed to “springboard” off the UK rock band’s worldwide fame.
Cosmetics giant L’Oreal has lost its opposition to Melbourne-based Lore Perfumery’s ‘Lore’ trade mark, with an IP Australia delegate finding that L’Oreal’s strong reputation made it unlikely that consumers would be deceived or confused.
The Federal Court is set to determine whether artificial intelligence can be the inventor of a patent, after an AI pioneer filed a challenge to an IP Australia finding that allowing a machine to be considered an inventor would render the Patents Act incapable of “sensible operation”.