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The New Frontier: Country Brands and their Legal Status under Australian Trade Mark Law
Citation
Forrest, HA, The New Frontier: Country Brands and their Legal Status under Australian Trade Mark Law, Australian Intellectual Property Journal, 20 pp. 127-147. ISSN 1038-1635 (2015) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2015 Australian Intellectual Property Journal
Official URL: http://www.thomsonreuters.com.au/australian-intell...
Abstract
This article asks two inter-related but separate questions: first, whether a
country name can on its own be a brand; and second, whether Australian law
recognises and protects private property rights in so-called "country brands"
as trade marks. In order to answer the former, the broad concept of a brand
must first be explored in an analysis of representative views from the
perspective of each broad group involved in the branded environment. These
are then evaluated against the notion of the country brand. Having
determined that the relevant question is not whether but how country brands
achieve legal status through recognition as trade marks, the criteria for
registration of a trade mark are then discussed. These criteria are applied to
country brands along with a consideration of other related legal issues faced
by applicants of trade marks constituting country names. The relatively few
registered trade marks solely constituting country names without other
accompanying words or images on the Australian register support a
conclusion that although registration is now possible, significant obstacles
remain.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
---|---|
Research Division: | Law and Legal Studies |
Research Group: | Private law and civil obligations |
Research Field: | Intellectual property law |
Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in law and legal studies |
UTAS Author: | Forrest, HA (Associate Professor Heather Forrest) |
ID Code: | 100928 |
Year Published: | 2015 |
Deposited By: | Faculty of Law |
Deposited On: | 2015-06-03 |
Last Modified: | 2016-02-25 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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