Hobart – It’s Raining Patent and TM Attorneys

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Michael Buck
Michael Buck at Battery Point Hobart for the IPTA conference 2012

Enjoying beautiful Battery Point, Hobart during the 2012 IPTA Conference

The annual Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys (IPTA) Conference was held in Hobart last week (7-11 March) and Megan, my lovely wife, and I went down for four nights.  We had a great time.

If you haven’t been take my word for it, Hobart’s a marvellous city.  Easy to get around, beautiful architecture, lovely parks and water views.  The roof line in the city is still not overwhelming.  In fact Hobart reminded me a little of Brisbane twenty years ago before the traffic got out of hand. (Phew, I managed to start this post without the word “I” for a change.) Continue reading →

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QLD Business Names Registration Guidelines

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Michael Buck

In my last post I explained that I’ve been seeking information explaining the criteria that the Queensland Office of Fair Trading uses to decide whether or not to register a new business name.

I put in a Right To Information Request last month and have been very impressed at how speedily and cooperatively the Department of Justice and Attorney General has responded  because I now have a copy of the internal guidelines that I was seeking.

There’s a link to a PDF copy of the document that I’ve been provided with here:

QLD Business Names Registration Guidelines

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Queensland Business Name Registration – What exactly is “confusing”?

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Michael Buck

I”ve been trying to find out exactly what the test is for registering a business name in Queensland.  It’s not as easy to find that out as you’d think!

Just to give some background, if you want to be a trader in Queensland, or any other state of Australia, then in general you’re required by state legislation to have a state business name registration. Continue reading →

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Name Pronounciation Effect – BBQs and Branding

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Michael Buck

A research team at Melbourne University’s School of Psychological Sciences led by Dr. Simon Laham has found that easily pronounceable names are generally judged more positively (surprise, surprise!). The UoM Newsroom article can be read here.

  • The study revealed that:
    If you’re looking for an advantage in an election or job application, make sure you’ve got a readily pronounceable name.
  • Interestingly, lawyers with pronounceable names rose more quickly to superior positions in their firm hierarchies, based on a field study of 500 first and last names of US lawyers. (Glad my last name is “Buck” !).

For people that are involved in branding and name selection for trademarks these findings come as no great surprise. Continue reading →

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Nostalgia for lost Technology

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Michael Buck

A number of thoughts that I’ve had about technology over the last couple of years all intersected on the weekend.

It started with reading Greg Sheridan’s column in the Weekend Australian Review Magazine on Saturday morning.  In his column Sheridan noted that laptops are being rapidly overtaken by other types of mobile computing devices, e.g. iPads, Kindles etc, and remarks that he’s “almost sad when transient technologies pass away”.

I can relate to his feelings. Sadness for a transient (or actually a lost) technology got me thinking of the Antikythera Mechanism which is a mechanical computer Continue reading →

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How Brands Grow

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Michael Buck

I’ve been reading How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp (Published by OUP 2010).

What I particularly like about this book is that it presents quantitative data to back up the conclusions that are reached.

It convincingly argues, with well presented factual support, against a number of propositions that have been held to be axioms of marketing in the past. Two of those in particular are:

  1. For maximum bang for your buck, market to your target demographic; and
  2. You must have a Unique Selling Proposition or USP.

Continue reading →

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Innovation Patent Australian National Phase Entry – Is it possible?

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Michael Buck

I recently received instructions to enter the Australian national phase for an international patent application. The applicant had received lack of inventive step objections during International Preliminary Examination but the claims had been deemed to be novel.
Continue reading →

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Trademarks with Graphic Elements – Copyright Issues

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Michael Buck

I’ve  been looking at one of the possible grounds for opposition to registration of a trade mark.  It’s the ground that the applicant was not the proprietor of the mark when it was lodged.  The usual approaches to succeeding on this ground are to demonstrate that the opponent, or some one else had used the mark in trade in Australia earlier than the applicant’s filing date or first use date.  Where the trade mark includes a graphic device there may be another way to establish lack of proprietorship too. Continue reading →

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Replying to emails with unknown “CC” recipients – what to do?

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Michael Buck

Yesterday I had an email in my inbox asking for some advice relating to the Sender’s business. (I’ll call him “the Sender” for convenience).  I’ve known the Sender for a few years.  The email had been cc’ed to a third person, whose email address I didn’t recognise and who had a domain name that was different to the Sender’s. Continue reading →

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