Not the first time Apple Inc has been featured in this blog, and by the looks of things, certainly not the last.

Hearings have begun for what is likely to be a protracted legal battle between the “Big Movie Studios” and not-so-small-fish in the local ISP pond, iiNet. A massive 34 plaintiff parties are accusing Australia’s third largest internet service provider of authorising copyright infringement.

The University of Western Australia’s challenge for ownership rights to Dr Bruce Gray’s microsphere inventions used in the treatment of cancer may have come to an end with the Full Court of the Federal Court dismissing the University’s appeal earlier this month.

As the old saying goes - “any publicity is good publicity”. Well in the case of American pop starlet Katy Perry this may not be true. Her lawyers opposed a trade mark application by Australian fashion designer Katie Perry for her name KATIE PERRY in relation to clothing.

Many of you may have seen the now iconic image of Sam the Koala being fed water by CFA Volunteer David Tree after the Black Saturday bushfires. The iconic image can be purchased here from the Herald Sun website with all proceeds going to the CFA. Now someone has applied to register as a trade mark the words “SAM THE KOALA” for numerous goods including chocolates, colouring books, DVD’s, toys and soft toys and for tourism, sightseeing and educational services.

It seems funny that a company that calls itself “Larrikin Music” should be taking serious court action over riffs allegedly copied from a classic Australian song about a native bird famous for its warbly laugh - but that said, judgment is set down for delivery tomorrow in the court of Justice Jacobson, who must decide whether Australian band Men at Work reproduced a “substantial part” of that famous Australian children’s song, Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree for its 1981 pub-anthem Down Under.

The auDRP and the UDRP are Dispute Resolution procedures available to prevent “cybersquatting”. The auDRP is specific to “.au” domain names, and the UDRP covers generic top-level domain names (.com, .net, .info, and similar).

You may recall our blog entry last year on cosmetics giant L’Oreal and their campaign against counterfeit products sold on eBay. Well it looks like the French courts have dealt another blow to that campaign following a decision earlier this month dismissing L’Oreal’s trade mark infringement action against the online auctioneer.

Arnott’s recently threatened legal action against the well known doughnut chain, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. over its use of the name Iced Dough-Vo. One of the claims alleged by Arnotts’ was that this use of the name was a breach of the Trade Marks Act, given the similarities of the name to its ICED VO-VO trade mark. We all know what an Iced Vo-Vo looks like. Krispy Kreme’s Iced Dough-Vo doughnut was topped in a pink fondant and sprinkled with coconut, reminiscent of the popular Arnott’s biscuit.

Almost as compelling as any television drama, the High Court’s recent decision in IceTV Pty Ltd v Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd adds yet another twist to copyright law in Australia and confirms that “skill and labour” exerted in producing copyright work needs to be geared towards the particular form of expression the work represents.