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The unknown songwriter – AI music and copyright law.

In an era where artificial intelligence continues to redefine the boundaries of creativity, recent developments in the music industry have brought copyright law into uncharted waters. With AI now capable of generating songs in the style of iconic musicians like John Lennon and Kurt Cobain, questions of copyright authorship and ownership are creating some big soundwaves.

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Domain name disputes: the Wild West of the internet.

In the vast expanse of the internet, domain names are like digital storefronts, essential for businesses and individuals to stake their claim online. However, amidst the plethora of legitimate domain registrations, a darker practice known as cybersquatting lurks. This phenomenon occurs when individuals register domain names in bad faith, aiming to profit from the reputation of established trade marks or businesses.

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IP Australia trade mark pick list gets an upgrade.

IP Australia is replacing the current Trade Marks Goods and Services list (aka the picklist) with the Madrid Goods and Services (Madrid List) list in March 2024. This change will bring Australian trade mark classification standards in line with international best practice; make global trade mark protection easier for Australians doing business overseas.

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Giving the thumbs down emoji to trademarks.

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) recently decided that simple emojis cannot be trademarked under European law. Here’s what happened: Background emoji In December 2021 a German company Käselow, sought to have a commonly used emoji registered as their trademark. The mark in question was an image of a hand sign commonly understood to mean ‘ILY’ or ‘I Love…

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Countdown to change: preparing your business for changes to the unfair contract terms regime.

Australia currently provides protections, via the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth) (ASIC Act), against unfair contract terms (Unfair Contract Terms Regime). The Unfair Contract Terms Regime applies to consumer contracts and small business contracts that are considered standard form contracts.

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Ready to enter the metaverse? Privacy risks companies need to know.

The metaverse is an interactive digital environment encompassing all virtual worlds, augmented reality and the internet. A space where users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users in real time. In simple terms, a 3D version of the internet. 1. Facebook’s nod to the metaverse Following Facebook’s rebranding to Meta, privacy concerns have been raised given Facebook’s history…

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