Avoiding the Gaps in the Copyright/Design Overlap

Sharon Givoni Consulting Arts and design, Copyright, Intellectual Property

Takeaway tips The copyright/design overlap aims to deal with and eliminate dual protection under copyright and design law. Don’t assume your designs are protected by copyright. Consider design registration before you publicly disclose your design. Recently, our firm assisted a client who sold unique handmade jewellery through an online store. He shockingly discovered that another […]

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Copyright or Wrong – Ownership Issues

Sharon Givoni Consulting Arts and design

This article considers copyright considers for photographers including how long copyright lasts for, what can be protected and how. Firstly, what is copyright? Copyright is a generic term that covers the rights of creators of ‘works’ including photographs, drawings, painting and artworks, literature, music, films and written works. A clear distinction exists between the copyright […]

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Ensuring your Soft Drink Brands Sparkle not Fizzle

Sharon Givoni Consulting Food Law

This article examines some dos and don’ts when it comes to trade mark protection for beverages considering real life cases concerning brands such as “Cranberry Classic”, “Crantastic”, “Ruby’s Red”, the “NES” family of Nestle trade marks and Boost juice marks. The strongest form of legal protection you can have for your brand in Australia is […]

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Copyright And Wrong?

Sharon Givoni Consulting Copyright

Copyright or Wrong? You work it out with this short introduction to the rules, by Sharon Givoni*. Content on the internet is not ‘public domain’ and intellectual property rights exist in the technological age. Potentially serious consequences exist when it comes to using and appropriating content found online without permission. In this blog post, Intellectual […]

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Social media trade promotions – tips and traps

Sharon Givoni Consulting Retail and fashion Law

Online promotions and competitions can be an effective way to boost exposure to your brand and engage with your target market. When it comes to the area of window furnishings, this principle equally applies. You may want to run a competition like: “Caption this photo for a chance to win” “Tell us in 50 words […]

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Lessons From The UGG Boot: Why Protecting Your (Global) Brand Is Paramount

Sharon Givoni Consulting Retail and fashion Law

A little-known fact that most business owners aren’t aware of is that just because a word is a cultural icon, this does not mean they are free for public use as a trade mark. In Australia alone, there have been many cases of iconic words or sayings that have been registered as trade marks, which […]

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Chinese Fakes. What can you do about them?

Sharon Givoni Consulting Arts and design, Intellectual Property

One question that Australian IP lawyers often get asked is what you can do to prevent your designs and products from being ripped-off in China. The issues surrounding IP protection are alive and well in China, which is notorious for its culture of copying, with “Naik” (Nike) shoes to “Adidos” (Adidas) tops right through to […]

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Lifting the blinds on copyright law

Sharon Givoni Consulting Copyright

With so much product imagery now easily accessible via the internet, intellectual property lawyer Sharon Givoni analyses the potential copyright pitfalls for window furnishings businesses, and offers practical solutions. Read more… The article has been kindly reproduced with the permission Window Furnishings Australia magazine (WFA)

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The Internet and Social Media

Sharon Givoni Consulting Copyright

We live in an age where most of us spend a significant portion of our everyday lives connected to the internet. Unfortunately, many people seem to treat online content as ‘public domain’, unaffected by the tenets of copyright law.  Not so, as potentially serious consequences exist when it comes to using and appropriating content found […]

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Contract Law for Designers

Sharon Givoni Consulting Copyright

Who would have thought that contract law involves more than just boring jargon and signing on dotted lines?  This article aims to give you clear understanding on your rights, responsibilities and obligations regarding contract law within the creative industries. It also explains in simple terms what a contract is, and the different sorts of contracts […]

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