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THURSDAY, 11 August 2011

Ken Hamilton
joins Spruson & Ferguson

Spruson & Ferguson is pleased to announce the appointment of Ken Hamilton as Principal in the Trade Marks Team.

Ken has over 25 years of experience working in the field of Intellectual Property. He commenced his career in 1982 by studying to become a Registered Patent & Trade Mark Attorney.  In the early 1990s Ken worked as an in-house Patent Attorney for the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation.

Ken returned to private practice in 1994 and since then he has specialised in providing advice relating to trade marks.  Over this time he has gained extensive experience with the registration and enforcement of trade marks in Australia and overseas.  Ken is also an experienced advocate in oppositions, removal actions and other matters before the Australian Registrar of Trade Marks.

Ken has also served on a number of INTA committees and is currently a member of the Non-Traditional Trade Marks Committee.

Ken can be contacted on +61 2 9393 0100 or ken.hamilton@sprusons.com.au

Letters of Intent:
When are they legally binding?

The Federal Court has clarified the requirements of a binding letter of intent in the recent case of Factory 5 Pty Ltd v State of Victoria [2010] FCA 1229. In this case, Factory 5 Pty Ltd (“F5”) entered into negotiations with M2006 (a statutory corporation formed to manage the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne) for a contract to become the sole retailer of licensed souvenirs, memorabilia and apparel for the Games.

On 16 December 2004, M2006 sent a letter to F5 containing the structure and terms of the agreement. The letter relevantly stated that “these terms will be further detailed in a legally binding Deal Memo and Long Form Agreement.”
Read More »


 

 

 

Coffee Copycats: Bodum’s Chambord coffee plunger wins Federal Court appeal

In a surprising result, a majority of the Full Federal Court of Australia has upheld an appeal by the Bodum Group in a long running dispute about a “copy” CHAMBORD coffee plunger.

In the first instance and on appeal, Bodum submitted that it had a reputation or secondary meaning in the design of its CHAMBORD coffee plunger among a significant number of people in Australia and that DKSH, the company responsible for importing a coffee plunger called EUROLINE with very similar features to the CHAMBORD coffee plunger, misled consumers by selling products whose features signify that they were made or licensed by Bodum, part of the Bodum range or otherwise associated with Bodum. Read More »

New Top Level Domains including .BRAND coming soon

ICANN, the international organisation that oversees the domain name system, has approved processes for new global top level domains (gTLDs) that will enable registration of brands (.KLEENEX), geographical locations (.SYDNEY), communities (.KURD) and generic words (.SPORT) as domains.
Read More »

Vanuatu has a New Trade Marks Act
Or does it?

A new Trade Marks Act came into force in Vanuatu on 8 February 2011. Previously, Vanuatu simply re-registered existing European country registrations such as a United Kingdom registration or more recently, it was possible to re-register a Community trade mark registration. Read More »

New Requirements for Warranties Against Defects

As of 1 January 2012, all documents and representations concerning any “warranty against defects” must be accompanied by text and information as prescribed by Regulation 90 of the Australian Consumer Law.

A “warranty against defects” is any representation made to a consumer in connection with and around the time of supply of goods or services to the effect that the goods will either be repaired or replaced, the services rectified or the consumer will be compensated if the goods or services are defective. Read More »

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Ask Us

We are here to be of service to you. If you have any questions about how to best protect your brands and trade marks or if you wish to discuss searching, registration, watching services, objecting to misuse of your marks by others, protection overseas or any other aspect of managing your trade mark portfolio, we would be happy to arrange a meeting.

Contact

Level 35, St Martins Tower
31 Market Street
Sydney NSW 2000 Australia

GPO Box 3898
Sydney NSW 2001 Australia

T: +61 2 9393 0100
F: +61 2 9261 5486

E: mail@sprusons.com.au
W www.sprusons.com.au

© Spruson & Ferguson 2011. This Newsletter is for the general information of our clients. Its contents are not a complete statement of the law on any subject. Professional advice should be sought before any course of action is pursued.

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