Last week (13th -17th November), we celebrated the annual Living Wage Week, which acknowledges accredited businesses for their commitment to paying staff at least the living wage. We thank our clients for affording us the ability to support our staff through the Living Wage Accreditation.

 To be eligible for registration in New Zealand, a trade mark must be distinctive and not descriptive of the goods and services for which registration is sought. However, the Trade Marks Act 2002 provides an important exception to the prohibition on registration of trade marks which are not inherently distinctive. Section 18(2) provides that Commissioner must not refuse to register a trade mark if, before the date of application for registration, the trade mark has acquired a distinctive character. The section further provides that the distinctive character may be acquired either through the use of the trade mark, or as a result “of any other circumstances”.

Double patenting grounds in New Zealand have included prior claiming, section 8(2) prior art (‘whole of contents approach’), Dreyfus’ situations, and parent/divisional overlap. A look at the timeline shows a clear trend, whether deliberate or otherwise, towards a more liberal approach to applicants with two or more applications to the same or similar subject matter.

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.