The Australian Government recently enacted legislation to repeal section 51(3) of the Australian Competition and Consumer Act 2010, which exempted conditions in the licensing or assignment of IP rights from being subject to competition law. The New Zealand Government is proposing to follow suit.

Several recent decisions of the Assistant Commissioner of Patents suggest that we may see a relaxation of how the Patents Act 2013 and its regulations are applied in New Zealand.

We are pleased to announce that three of our senior trade mark practitioners have been named among the world's leading trade mark professionals in World Trademark Review's WTR 1000 (2019).

Whether Weetabix was an infringement of the Weet-Bix trade mark framed the issue before the High Court in the recent case of Australasian Conference Association Limited v A Little Bit of Britain Limited [2018] NZHC 2501.

With the deposit of its instrument of accession with WIPO on 4 December 2018, Samoa (previously known as Western Samoa) becomes the 103rd member of the Madrid Union.

Amendments to the Patents Act 2013 mean that from 30 December 2018, a general grace period of 12 months will be provided for in New Zealand. There are some important points to note about this provision.

On 30 December 2018, the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Agreement will come into force. This means that some amendments to intellectual property laws set out in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Amendment Act 2018 will come into force the same day.

 Following the recent decision of the European Court of Justice in Societe des produits Nestle v Mondelez UK Holdings & Services [2018] EUECJ C-84/17P regarding the Kit-kat shape trade mark, we provide an overview, examples and leadings cases for the registrability of shape trade marks in New Zealand.

IPAustralia has released an exposure draft of the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Productivity Commission Response Part 2 and Other Measures) Bill 2018, which is intended to implement recommendations of the Productivity Commission's 2016 report regarding intellectual property, including abolishing the innovation patent.