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By Josephine Gardiner (Sydney)

Australia’s best-known horse racing event, the Melbourne Cup is on today. The race is known to stop the nation… but that’s not all they’re stopping for! Floral frocks, feathers and fascinators – the event is a real life fashion show with its own catwalk known as ‘Fashions on the Field’. The dress etiquette for the event requires ladies to wear a headpiece, usually a one-off piece of millinery. However, such ‘one-off’ pieces are becoming harder to find as millinery falls victim to copying.…
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By Melinda Upton, Jessie Buchan and Courtney Adamson (Sydney)

Prior to 2014, the majority of large global retailers were electing to take a somewhat soft approach to their entry into the Australian retail market.  By opening up websites locally and/or shipping to Australia via online means, overseas retailers were able to follow a low-cost, low-risk way of entering a new market to test the waters before investing further.  One company that successfully followed this approach is US homewares giant Williams-Sonoma.  The company elected to introduce Australian consumers to its products and brand online before investing in bricks and mortar stores.  By the time Williams-Sonoma launched its ambitious plans to open stores domestically, Australia had already become its largest market outside North America thanks to its online presence.…
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By Courtney Adamson

The term “limping trademark” was first coined by Justice Jacob in Philips Electronics NV v Remington Consumer Products (1997) 40 IPR 279 to describe a mark that was not capable of fulfilling the role of a trademark without further elements of a company’s branding. In this case, the mark in question was an image of the top portion of a Philips electric shaver. Jacob J found that the mark had never been used without the well-known PHILISHAVE trade mark or trusted to do the “job” of a trademark on its own.…
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