Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property is a major instrument of world and domestic trade and economic growth. This area of law and regulation has gained in importance with the development of the ‘knowledge economy’, as a large proportion of the world’s wealth is in the form of intellectual capital rather than physical or material resources. In the domestic context, intellectual property and the application of their attached rights pervades and impacts in multitudinous ways our daily lives and activities

This latest edition of Intellectual Property: Commentary and Materials deals with the essential aspects of the nature of the property rights involved in copyright, patents, designs, trademarks and geographical indications, protection for confidential information and passing off. It also includes an expanded chapter on indigenous cultural intellectual property (ICIP).

This new edition has been updated to include:

• review of the intellectual property provisions of Australia ’s recent and proposed free trade agreements, including China, South Korea, and Japan and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA);
• Productivity Commission Review commenced in 2015 on the future of Australian IP;
• an update on the international aspects of Australia’s Tobacco plain packaging dispute;
• 2016 review of on the operation of the Resale Royalty for Visual Artists Act 2009 (Cth);
• discussion on the Intellectual Property (Raising the Bar) Act 2012 (Cth), particularly in respect of trademarks and patents; the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act 2015 (Cth);
• and the Productivity Commission 2016 draft report into Australia’s Intellectual Property Arrangements, which can be expected in time to lead to further substantial changes to the various statutes.

Recent leading cases considered include the Dallas Buyers Club v iiNet litigation series of 2014-2015 (on ISP provider liabilities); Commissioner of Taxation v Seven Network (2016) (copyright in digital data transmissions) ; Tolkien Estate v Saltalamacchia (2016) (the “One Ring” copyright); D’Arcy v Myriad Genetics (2015) (patentability of genes and nucleic acid sequences); and Dick Smith Investments v Ramsey (2016) (Ozemite case).