As of 23 July 2023 , Elon Musk rebranded the social media platform Twitter to X. The brand change is suggested to be a reflection of Musk’s change management strategy and upheaval of previous Twitter processes since his takeover in October 2022.¹ This article discusses the implications this will have on the social media platform’s brand equity, and the challenges it’s likely to face as a commonplace trade mark.

Director Elena Szentivanyi discusses how IP Australia is considering extending the scope of registered design rights to include virtual, partial and incremental designs. 

We are pleased to announce Henry Hughes IP has been named as a recommended New Zealand firm for prosecution and two of our patent experts have been individually recognised in the latest IAM Patent 1000 2023 rankings.

 A discussion of Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. [2022] NZIPOPAT 1, what has happened since this decision, and what the future for combination treatment patent claims in New Zealand may hold.

Since 2015, New Zealand and Australia have been in conflict over the registration of MANUKA HONEY as a certification mark. This article discusses the latest developments of the trans-Tasman dispute, its reasoning, and the implications this may have on Māori IP rights and the New Zealand honey industry.

This article looks at what will constitute acceptable evidence to establish reputation under section 17(1)(a) of the Trade Marks Act 2002 in trade mark oppositions based on decisions of various IPONZ Assistant Commissioners that have issued over the last six months.

Ed Sheeran faces trial in the US for yet another copyright action, this time for potential infringement of Marvin Gaye and Ed Townsend’s 1973 hit classic Let’s Get It On by use of certain chord progressions in his 2014 hit Thinking Out Loud.

 Trade mark practitioners in Australia breathed a sigh of relief when the High Court issued its decision in Self Care IP Holdings Pty Ltd v Allergan Australia Pty Ltd [2023] HCA 8 (15 March 2023). We did not have to read far: by paragraph 3 the High Court affirmed that the reputation of a trade mark is not relevant to the question of deceptive similarity when determining whether a registered mark has been infringed under section 120(1) of the Australian Trade Marks Act 1995.

The government has released the Resale Right for Visual Artists Bill to implement a new resale royalty scheme for artists.  The proposed legislation provides a right for eligible artists and successive right holders to receive a royalty on qualifying resales of original visual artworks.