TM Lighthouse Trade Mark Attorneys

25/10/2023

Today, a trade mark application of my first client has been successfully registered, marking a special day since I began my practice in Australia and New Zealand. It was a challenging project, as there were similar trade mark objections. Thankfully, we were able to overcome these objections and obtain brand protections for the client's sports equipment. Thank you client for trusting me with their intellectual property protection needs in New Zealand and Australia, despite the fact that I run a very small firm.

15/09/2023

We advise client to conduct trade mark searches before they launch the brand in the market.

Ashburton's first Night Noodle Market will also be its last - at least with that name.

19/07/2023

Interesting trade mark case that a toy company in NZ used the word “Lego” in their brand name. This constitutes trade mark infringement and the result is in favour of Lego company. It is quite common for the companies in NZ to adopt playful wordings for trade marks. But the owner need to aware that using a third party trade mark in your brand name may potentially take unfair advantages from the registered trade mark and also constitutes trade mark infringement.

The Kiwi toy company wanted to be able to claim on its packaging that its plastic building bricks were compatible with Lego’s.

22/03/2023

A case of freedom of speech vs likelihood of confusion

The Biden administration supports Jack Daniel's claim, filing a brief that said First Amendment concerns do not override the Lanham Act, which protects trademarked brands from parodies that cause confusion.

The owner of an unregistered trademark may be able to assert a claim under the Lanham Act's “likelihood of confusion” standard, which prohibits the use of the mark in a way that is likely to deceive or cause confusion about the nature or origin of a product or service. 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)(1).

Whether the Lanham Act’s prohibition on a lookalike Jack Daniel's toy trademarks infringe the First Amendment right to freedom of speech?

Whether there is likely to cause confusion about the origin of goods?

This raises a question on the broad reach of the Lanham Act. Confusion is easy to say but difficult to apply. Further, it is hard to justify whether a registration containing terms that play no real part in the expression of ideas. How far can freedom of expression reach? How far can Lanham Act implicate? It leaves room for legislators to develop a more narrowly tailored alternative.

The liquor company is arguing that a dog toy infringes on its iconic trademark.

06/03/2023

Under Switzerland’s Swissness Act 2017, national symbols and Swiss crosses are not permitted on the packaging of products that don’t meet Swissness criteria. Foodstuffs using Swiss national symbols or claiming to be “Swiss made” must have at least 80 % of the product’s raw materials come from Switzerland and 100 % for milk and dairy products.

The company is changing the packaging design to depict a more generic mountain rather than the famous Matterhorn. Read more at straitstimes.com.