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.

Over the past month, two Australian patents have stood up to the tough US system and registered wins for their owners.

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.

Federal Court Practice Note No 30: Fast Track Directions was recently issued, heralding the introduction of the “Fast Track” litigation process to all Federal Courts Australia-wide.

For all you trade mark owners out there, you may want to take note of the recent micro-blogging trend called Twitter. Twitter is an online service which allows you to communicate and broadcast near-instant messages to anyone who cares to subscribe to your online message feed about your current activities – which sounds like a modern and low-cost way to keep in touch or build a loyal fan base for that trade mark you have been promoting through more “traditional” channels. But if you were looking at getting into the “twittersphere”, you had best do so quickly, before someone else decides to register your trade mark as their user name.