The globalisation of Australian brands and why you need to register your Chinese trade mark application now

Malcolm McBratney, Alex Hutchens, Kellie Jukkola, Alexia Marinos

With more and more Australian companies entering the lucrative Chinese marketplace, it’s important to register your trade mark in this jurisdiction as soon as possible or you may miss out and in the process dilute your future ability to promote your brand globally.

Unlike Australia, China has a ‘first-to-file’ approach to trade mark registration.  This means the first applicant for a trade mark will generally acquire rights in the mark, even though they may not be the first user of the brand in that country. 

But first, let me take a selfie…No, check your patent first

Malcolm McBratney, Stephanie Parkin

Taking a selfie has never been so simple – thanks to the selfie stick.  With an estimated 100,000 sold worldwide during Christmas, the selfie stick has become a household essential and earned itself a spot on the Time’s 25 Best Inventions of 2014.  In reality, the alleged original inventor of this newfound gadget launched the product in 2006 after years of investment and prototypes and long before the selfie was recognised as a word or became a phenomenon.

Disney issues warning over counterfeit bracelets

Alex Hutchens, Malcolm McBratney, Stephanie Parkin

A number of recent cases indicate that Disney is dealing with a new type of Lyin’ King in the form of counterfeiters.