Taking effect from 22 April 2020, the Electronic Transactions Regulation 2017 (NSW) has been amended to include new provisions (i.e. Schedule 1 Response to COVID-19 pandemic) relating to witnessing and attestation of documents during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The new regime allows: witnessing of a signature by audiovisual link performing arrangements in relation to witnessing and attestation of documents (e.g. confirming …

Trade marks are country-specific property rights. Your ability to use and register your trade mark remains to be assessed on a country-by-country basis. In Australia, registration of a trade mark in the presence of a competing mark may be possible, but you need to show prior continuous use of your mark compared to a prior similar registration in order to …

On 22 April 2020, IP Australia released measures to assist customers “struggling with the impacts of COVID-19”.  The measures focus on two main areas: Free Extensions of Time for Patents, Trade Marks and Designs IP Australia released a simplified system for extending time to respond to office deadlines if an applicant is affected by COVID-19.  The system provides free extensions …

Patentees of pharmaceutical substances are frequently unable to exploit their inventions until receiving regulatory approval for their products, often many years after the commencement of the patent term. Recent decisions from IP Australia and the Australian Federal Court indicate that the Australian patent term extension system is quite favourable to patentees at the moment. Multiple patents can be extended based …

Franchisors look out.  For the second time in less than 12 months, a franchisor has received a multimillion-dollar penalty for breaches of the Franchising Code.  Compliance with the Code is paramount, as GEOWASH P/L recently learnt when it was slugged with a total of $4.2 million in penalties against an insolvent carwash, a car detailing company, and two of its …

A pandemic like COVID-19 can bring out the best and worst in people. Household brand names like McDonald’s, Volkswagen, Audi and others are all doing their part in reinforcing the social distancing message. Others just see opportunism, filing trade mark applications for COVID-19 covering bumper stickers, pencils and even for cleaning products. Trade mark offices around the world are being …

The recent emergence of COVID-19 may amount to a force majeure event. What does this mean to commercial agreement and performance pursuant to those agreements?  In some circumstances, the COVID-19 could excuse performance under a contract.  The question is when and what is required to suspend rights of performance under a contract. The recent emergence of COVID-19 may amount to …

The ACCC has established an internal COVID-19 task force with the aim of educating businesses about their obligations in relation to cancellations, refunds and suspension of services as a result of COVID-19.  That task force will be paying particular attention to price gouging, will consider affordability issues and consider a range of competition issues to ensure that Australian markets and …