Australia: Trademark

A service provider who has not assigned their intellectual property still owns it, regardless of what the invoice says. Under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), the creator owns copyright by default, and ownership moves only by written assignment. Paying a designer or developer does not transfer ownership on its own. That default gives service providers real leverage where a client refuses to pay. Retention and suspension clauses turn the default into a contractual right to withhold deliverables.

The need for Australian businesses to maintain records of trade mark searches and evidence that consumers would experience no confusion before adopting a brand have never been more important.

Following the High Court's clarification in Zip Co Limited v Firstmac Limited, Australian businesses face heightened expectations for conducting thorough trade mark searches before brand adoption.

A Federal Court decision examines the ownership of intellectual property rights in the "Blue Carbon Lab" brand, exploring whether goodwill and trademark ownership belonged to Deakin University or to Professor Peter Macreadie who conceived the lab's name and logo. The case addresses critical questions about institutional ownership of research brands, the indivisibility of goodwill, and the standards for assessing bad faith in trademark applications when employees leave academic institutions.

The Australia-EU Free Trade Agreement introduces new geographical indication protections that may affect how certain products are named, marketed and sold in Australia.

Design registrations remain one of the most underutilized intellectual property tools, yet they offer businesses fast, affordable protection against competitors copying product designs. With record-high filings in 2025 and major brands increasingly relying on them, understanding why design registrations outperform patents, trademarks, and copyright in protecting visual product features could be the competitive advantage your business needs.

Unregistered trade marks & their associated goodwill are treated as one in the same.

The High Court of Australia has handed down its highly anticipated decision in Taylor v Killer Queen LLC [2026] HCA 5 in a narrow 3-2 majority, ending a decade-long trade mark battle between American pop star Katy Perry...

The case concerned whether the Australian designer's registered trade mark "Katie Perry" for clothing should be removed from the Trade Marks Register due to the prior reputation of the singer's stage name "Katy Perry".