Technology plays an integral part in our daily lives; it is safe to say that many of us couldn’t function without our smart phones and computers. But without the software that operates that high-tech hardware, the ubiquitous smart phone would be nothing more than a...
Normally, if a design is capable of being registered under the Designs Act 2003 (Cth) (“Designs Act”) and is industrially applied as per s 77(1)(b) of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) (“Copyright Act”), i.e. more than 50 copies of it are made, it loses any...
Plant Breeder’s Rights The agricultural sector of plant breeding is ever-evolving, with more and more technologies being developed towards creating superior varieties of commercially viable plants. To accommodate the fears that breeders have in terms of protection of their new varieties, domestic and international communities have...
On 30 November 2020, the World Intellectual property Organization (WIPO) reported that it had registered its 50,000th cybersquatting case. With more people depending on the internet and spending time at home, WIPO has stated that the “COVID-19 pandemic has fueled cybersquatting cases filed”. According to...
Introduction The Federal Court has ordered Telstra Corporation Limited (Telstra) to give discovery of documents relating to the identity of registered Telstra account holders for specified IP addresses. Those account holders are believed to have infringed the copyright in Siemens NX software and the Solid Edge...
Internet usage has grown exponentially since it was fully commercialized in 1995 with an estimated 4.3 billion internet users in the world. The internet has permitted the growth in social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The ease at which users of social...
The recent decision of the Federal Court in PC Case Gear Pty Ltd v Instrat Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd (in liq) [2020] FCA 137 is of interest to software owners because it provides a rare insight into the mind of a respondent to an allegation...
In December 2017, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued a report on the impact that online search engines, social media and digital platforms have on competition in the media. As part of their inquiry, the ACCC recommended that certain measures be taken. Of...
Rights Owners Strike Back? Preliminary Discovery post Dallas Buyers Club Published by Lexis Nexis Internet Law Bulletin 18/2015 and Australian Intellectual Property Law Bulletin 28/2015 By Grant Hansen In 2012 the ISP iiNet achieved a notable victory in the High Court in Roadshow Films Pty Ltd v iiNet Ltd (2012)...
(Published in Law Society Journal of NSW September 2014. Revised version published in Australian Commercial Law Tracker October 2014) Grant Hansen In the seminal case on damages for software infringement, Autodesk v Cheung (1990) 171 IPR 69Justice Wilcox observed that: one matter which is, in my opinion, relevant, is the difficulty...