The MBIE discussion paper on the IP Amendment Bill was issued recently. It is divided into four parts: patents, trade marks, designs, and use of AI by IPONZ. I’m doing a few posts highlighting what I see as the key issues. The discussion on patent reform is here. My picks for the top three trade mark issues are proprietorship, prior continuous use, and getting rid of the...
The topic that everyone seems to be talking about, everywhere you turn, is access to justice. My conscience was pricked at a cocktail party talk last year by Dr Bridgette Toy-Cronin from the University of Otago’s Legal Issues Centre. She threw down the gauntlet to a room full of sleek civil litigators, challenging them to help a broader sweep of litigants, especially those of limited means...
I just went to a talk on tax, and it was uplifting. I mean, it was still a seminar, but in terms of fun factor I would rate it somewhere between listening to Mike Hosking (pretty bad) and Australian Lego Masters (oddly quite fun to watch with the kids). The speaker was Dr Tim Benbow, who is a partner at EY and is part of its R&D tax incentive team. And he did actually open his...
Interim injunctions involve not only legal principles, but also a more visceral appeal to the judge’s perception of what is fair and right. The judge needs to make the assessment quickly and on the basis of limited evidence. Yet the decision is incredibly important and will often put an end to the entire case – especially in the IP context. As a result, interim injunction...
The discussion paper on the IP Amendment Bill was issued recently and submissions are being received at the moment (details here).
I’m going to do a series of posts highlighting the key issues in each of the sections of the discussion paper, starting with patents.
Earlier this year, comedian Tim Batt registered a handful of “Coalition Party” domain names, shortly after the Destiny Church-brigade announced that it was starting a political party under that name. I thought it was such a New Zealand-style protest: gentle, non-confrontational, and kind of sweet. The best part, as you probably know, is that he uploaded an episode of The Male Gayz, a...
First, a confession. This particular bugbear is linked to an earlier one: direct-to-consumer sales of gene testing for health purposes. I posted about that here. To add fuel to my already well-stoked fire of indignation, the presenter who tried to sell me gene testing and analysis services styled herself as “Dr L_____”. Dr L’s business card gave her qualifications as “DDS, BS, Genetic...
Earlier this year I went to a workshop on the GI aspects of the EU – New Zealand Free Trade Agreement negotiations. New Zealand’s lead negotiator, Martin Harvey, gave an update on the status of those negotiations. As is widely-known, the EU wants New Zealand to recognise GIs that are protected in the EU, and it would reciprocate in kind. Of course, the number of European GIs far...
One of my favourite times of the year is the Auckland Writers Festival, which sadly has just finished. I always fizz for weeks afterwards, neurons bathed in new and invigorating ideas. I’m always encouraged, too, by the number of lawyers and judges who can be seen in the audience there. Surely it is a good sign that our profession is filled with people who actively seek out new ideas and...
