Registration of a trade mark can be cancelled if the trade mark is not used. Use must be within three years of registration under section 92 of the Trade Marks Act (Cth) 1955. But what level of use is required? Many court decisions have turned on this question.

We'll examine here the recent  High Court of Australia decision, E. & J. Gallo Winery v Lion Nathan Australia Pty Limited [2010] HCA 15 (19 May 2010).

Gallo Winery is a Californian company. It is one of the largest wine producing companies in the world. Gallo became the owner of Australian trade mark number 787765 for BAREFOOT in 2005. The mark was for "wines" in class 33 and was originally registered from 9 March 1999 by Michael Houlihan, trading as Barefoot Cellars.

In 2007 Gallo took legal action alleging infringement by Lion Nathan Australia Pty Ltd for use of BAREFOOT or BAREFOOT RADLER for beer.

There are five requirements for a person or company to claim ownership to copyright work. These can be stated in simple terms. Issues  arise in their application to specific fact situations.

Copyright was orginally applied to "literary works" which by their nature had an element of creativity.  Over time a very wide range of mundane work attracted copyright protection. Courts came to recognise the existence of copyright in phone directories, tickets, football league tables and other pedestrian materials.

Firstly in the United States, and now in Australia, the highest courts have heralded a shift back to original principles for literary works.

To protect fashion designs it is not sufficient to rely just on copyright, trade marks and design registrations. Fashion houses instead mostly rely on brand prestige, rapid style changes and stock control.

A recent court decision provides guidance on more ways to protect apparel designs or defend against claims of infringement.

On 14 June 2007 the High Court of Australia ruled a restaurant review can be liable for defamation.

However in the final court decision in the matter, on 19 December 2009, Justice Ian Harrison in the Supreme Court of NSW held in favour of the publisher and the food critic, Matthew Evans.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the three defamatory meanings in the critic's article were: "Firstly, that it sold some unpalatable food, secondly, that it provided some bad service, and thirdly, that the trio were incompetent restaurant owners because they employed a chef who made poor quality food."

For kicking off fame for chefs, Masterchef has a winning formulae. For building revenues, the traditional path is mapped in this article, first published in October 2006. Masterchef graduates confirm the path with their cookbooks, advertising appearances, and TV series.

Pepper and other spices were highly valued in pre-modern times. Fortunes were made by traders who transported them from distant lands to the privileged in Europe. Today spices are a commodity, they are readily available for a few dollars at the supermarket. What we highly value today are the traders of information, entertainment and fashion ideas about cooking. Prominent among these traders are celebrity chefs. What they can earn is astonishing.

Source: The Mobile World, an analyst group, July 2010.

The Hollywood business model combines talent, fame, distribution networks and familiar messages. Another simplification is that Hollywood is a fame factory and fame is an easily understood business model.

Fame begets fame. Sometimes it arrives very quickly. In comparison it is usually slower going with technology diffusion (see Footnote 1).

We all value trust. It makes us buy from the corner store and buy online.

You know when trust is lost. Think of Howard Beale played by Peter Finch in the 1976 film Network. His famous line was to ask people to turn TV off, saying "I'm as mad as Hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore! " [click to watch it on YouTube].

For many businesses it's time for a change to benefit from growing confidence in the online world. Does your business have to do better online? Does your website need a makeover? Begin by asking - how do you win trust from your people, your customers and your suppliers.

In the legal arena a trade mark is in essence a sign for the source or origin of a product (eg branded magazine) or service (eg branded publishing services). In the eyes of the law - the mark sources the trader.

All businesses have trade marks. Their legal status and ease of protection varies for reasons briefly noted here.

In common usage a "trade mark" may be a brand, logo, word or other sign. A trade mark registered in Australia gives its owner the advantage of a monopoly statutory right (ie law made by parliament) to use it in Australia. This legal monopoly right comes into force on registration without evidence of use.

Technology and copyright issues for digital music have long been hot topics in Australia and worldwide. They are at the forefront of change for content and intellectual property business models involving the Internet.

In this regularly updated article, we track change in digital music since 1980. The timeline sets out developments both for digital music technology and music copyright.

"What a long, strange trip it's been", to quote the Grateful Dead. But it's been much more than that, as should be evident from the further reading list below.