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Category Archives: Intellectual property

This ‘n’ that

There are a few interesting posts around the place today, so I thought I’d just do a round up: HeathG at Minimal State wonders if GetUp! will get into trouble with copyright law as a result of its political satire video (which lends from various Hollywood blockbusters). I hope not, the video is rather funny, [...]

Further on Intellectual Property

Regular commenter Lorenzo has written a very thought-provoking post on intellectual property, which I highly recommend. I looked over it and made a few lawyerly comments… for which he has provided me with far too much credit The take-home (and very thoughtful) piece of analysis? (Lorenzo is a specialist on the role and activities of [...]

Down, Kookaburra, Down

I learn via the Hoydens that the Federal Court (oh, the stupid, it burns) has decided that Men at Work’s Down Under infringed the copyright held by the owners of Kookaburra Sits Under the Old Gum Tree. Here are a few observations from a lawyer who has handled some small IP matters. 1. IP law is [...]

Confidence and privacy

I went to an interesting seminar the other day on breach of confidence law. The seminar included a number of speakers and spanned Australian, UK and US law on the subject, as well as a historical consideration of the piecemeal manner in which breach of confidence law developed. Apparently breach of confidence was a relative [...]

Blood Elves and Blogwars

I hadn’t come across conservative US shock jock Glenn Beck until an anonymous prankster started up a site called glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com. Beck is now suing the originator of the site, so of course I’m interested now. Some background first. Beck doesn’t sound like he’d be my cup of tea. An article in Time magazine in July [...]

What Katy Did

I like crazy intellectual property disputes. The latest IP battle to catch my eye concerns Katie Perry (an Australian fashion designer) and Katy Perry (an American pop singer). Katie Perry sought to trademark her name in respect of her clothing design business, but Katy Perry’s lawyers contacted IP Australia to oppose the registration of the [...]

There ain’t enough room for the two of us Big Reds in this town…

Any parent will be familiar with The Wiggles. I swore I wasn’t going to let them into my DVD player, but had to backtrack when I saw the genuine enjoyment my daughter derived from their shows. Generally, children’s entertainment makes me want to eat my own leg off just to get away from it, but [...]

Hari Puttar update

I wrote a post earlier on the Harry Potter/Hari Puttar dispute between Warner Bros and Bollywood. Via cearta.ie, I see that the BBC reports that Warner Bros has failed in its case against the Hari Puttar filmmakers: The makers of the blockbuster Harry Potter films said the title of the Indian movie was too similar. [...]

Rowling wins copyright case

J.K. Rowling has succeeded at first instance in her copyright infringement case against RDR publishers and Stephen Vander Ark for their proposed Harry Potter Lexicon. I have mentioned this case earlier. Obviously the trial judge managed to get his head around the plotlines which he initially described as “gibberish”, as the judgment shows quite a [...]

Harry Krishna?

I’m fascinated by the Harry Potter industry. We’ve already seen Warner Bros and J.K. Rowling take on a New York librarian and lexicon author for copyright infringement. Now they are taking on the might of Bollywood… The Indian movie is called Hari Puttar – A Comedy of Terrors. The Hollywood Reporter tells us: The case [...]