All News Articles

13 / 01 / 2021

Reverse Cybersquatting IS A DOMAIN NAME WORTH A MAGIC $1M

Jeff Geaney purchased the domain magicmillions.com two-and-a-half years ago and is accused of cybersquatting. Is it cybersquatting or a legitimate purchase?

03 / 12 / 2020

Law Firms Face Extortion

Many Australian law firms and their clients could find themselves facing extortion by online hackers after reports of a major security breach of an Australian legal services firm.

17 / 11 / 2020

Opportunistic Rivals Can't Adopt Re-Branded Trade Marks

With multiple brands renaming, opportunistic traders may be tempted to adopt the name of a disused Trade Mark. The result may not be pleasant.

13 / 11 / 2020

High Court Delivers Mortal Blow to Planned Obsolescence

Australia’s High Court has delivered a stunning mortal patents blow to industries that manufacture items with inbuilt designed obsolescence.

13 / 11 / 2020

Your chance to have your Say on Privacy

Only two weeks until close of submissions on the Australian Government's review of the Privacy Act 1988..

12 / 11 / 2020

Beware Who's Using Your Internet Service

Small businesses providing Wi-Fi to their patrons could face serious charges if people use their internet is used for nefarious means.

10 / 11 / 2020

DON’T GET YOUR EAGLES AND GATES CONFUSED

For the sake of clarity, we are Queensland Commercial, Technology and Intellectual Property Law Firm EAGLEGATE Lawyers.

08 / 10 / 2020

Game Over With Hefty Fine in Gaming Patent Clash

In a clash of the gaming titans, Japanese mobile developer Gree has won a lawsuit against Finnish developer Supercell and has been awarded at least $8.5 million.

07 / 09 / 2020

How do you protect Generic Trade Marks?

If your product brand name is so entrenched in the public’s mind it becomes a descriptor of the product, how do you protect that trade mark?

31 / 07 / 2020

Fraud Alert: The Photography Shakedown Edition

Watch out for the Photograph Shakedown Fraud. Book a free 30min consultation with EAGLEGATE Lawyers.

17 / 07 / 2020

Is it Time to Hit the Delete Key on TIK TOK?

Brisbane cyber lawyer Sandy Zhang says media reports of fears that Tik Tok, owned by a Chinese company, is being used by the Chinese Communist Party to track users is heightening fears amid a stand off between Australia and China and a deteriorating relationship between the countries.

23 / 06 / 2020

Netflix Outsmarts POTUS On Space Force Trade Mark

It’s the sort of news that cracks up trade mark lawyers- how the United States’ military Space Force may have been trumped in a trade mark move by a Netflix streaming comedy series of that name.

17 / 06 / 2020

COVID Contact Lists: Fail for Us, Great Win for Thieves

There’s a fear burglars could benefit from a Government requirement for cafes and restaurants to compile lists of customer names and addresses in case Covid-19 contact tracing is needed.

06 / 05 / 2020

Court wakes up Google to defamation risk

A Victorian Supreme Court decision holding Google liable for a defamation action over search results is a strong wakeup call that could see search engines now become wary of what search results they display.

VB beer bottle with city night sky in the background

01 / 05 / 2020

To VB or not to VB - that is the trademark question

Ask any Aussie what the letters VB mean and chances are they would not think of former Spice Girl warbler Victoria Beckham.

Woman holding phone with laptop in background

07 / 04 / 2020

Scammers Thrive in a Coronavirus World

People working from home or surfing the Internet in a coronavirus home isolation need to be super aware of predatory cyber scammers who are very active right now.

27 / 03 / 2020

State Govt Business Survival Loans’ Cruel Eligibility

The Queensland Government’s offer of loans to small business of up to $250,000 as a lifeline in the COVID-19 pandemic has a serious loop-hole. Only some businesses are eligible for the loan.

25 / 03 / 2020

Police Phone Tracking Heralds New Era In Virus War

The probability of Australian police using mobile phone tracking technology to track contacts of people infected with the coronavirus should not be seen as an intrusive Big Brother erosion of privacy rights.

19 / 03 / 2020

Patent Rights to an Australian Coronavirus cure

While Australian scientists and medical researchers race to find a cure for the coronavirus, a Brisbane intellectual property and patents lawyer says the Crown could use any patent rights to a locally- devised proven vaccine.

15 / 03 / 2020

Facebook unleashes legal hounds against deceptive web

It’s the lawsuit shaking up the tech world - Facebook is suing an American domain name registrar Namecheap and its proxy service Whoisguard.

Buckingham Palace road sign with blue sky

09 / 01 / 2020

Harry & Meghan's pre-emptive trademark move

Prince Harry and Meghan were actively preparing to quit the Royal Family months ago by filing trade mark applications to commercially protect their brand.

06 / 01 / 2020

New Age of Trade Mark infringement defences in Australia

A cautionary tale for trade mark holders in Australia - there’s a new trend in legal cases to bring a cross claim to declare the trade mark invalid based on it being filed in the wrong name.

13 / 12 / 2019

Why you should not steal a Domain name at gun point

Every so often there’s a story in the media that beggars belief, like the idiot in America who tried to steal an internet domain name at gunpoint.

20 / 11 / 2019

Staying safe on the Internet - Trust nobody

Cyber criminals are now so rampant on the Internet trying to rip off victims that it’s becoming safer to adopt a “trust nobody” attitude toward online transactions.

11 / 09 / 2019

Game Over for Foreign Companies playing with Australian C

Foreign companies that may think they can weasel out of being liable for contracts with Australian clients can thank our computer gamers for a hard won lesson in life.

03 / 09 / 2019

Whistleblowers now get legal protections

Whistleblowers who report misconduct about companies can now access stronger rights and protections under law changes to the Corporations Act.

28 / 08 / 2019

Employers warned business trade secrets vulnerable

It sounds like a no-brainer if staff offer to use their own laptops or portable devices for work, but employers should realise it’s actually a very bad idea.

24 / 08 / 2019

Stop people hiding behind the privacy act

Executives at some prominent Australian organisations who falsely claim to have university degrees could be using the Privacy Act to protect them from being found out.

13 / 08 / 2019

Why your WIPO TradeMark registration in Australia might b

Why your WIPO TradeMark registration in Australia might be invalid. The International Trademark system administered by the WIPO provides an easy process of filing trademark applications in Madrid Protocol countries.

07 / 08 / 2019

Can you Trademark a Song or a City? Liverpool FC vs The L

Can you Register a Trademark for a Song or a City? Liverpool FC vs The Locals Liverpool Football Club, one of the oldest and most storied football clubs in the world

Animated black horse head looking up to grey sky

01 / 08 / 2019

Katy Perry Flame’d: Dark Horse infringes Joyful Noise Cop

A nine-person Los Angeles jury has found that Katy Perry’s 2013 song Dark Horse infringes the copyright in Marcus Gray a.k.a Flame’s 2009 song Joyful Noise.

01 / 08 / 2019

Domain Names now Command the Big Bucks

They used to say you could make a fortune from real estate but the big bucks now are in cyber real estate- buying and selling domain names, and the industry is booming.

30 / 07 / 2019

Patents and Right of Repair | Re-making patented goods

Patents and the Right of Repair – Ink dries on Re-making patented goods in the Full Court

25 / 07 / 2019

A USD$12M Lesson in trademark registration - Wawona-ship

A USD$12M Lesson in trademark registration - Wawona-ship of Majestic Yosemite TradeMarks returned to National Park We all learn through bitter experience.

Male Fashion model dressed in black with handbag

20 / 07 / 2019

AU TradeMarks 101- Make your mark on the market

We recognise that the value of a brand to a business is important. Global brands like McDonald’s, Red Bull and celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Cardi B and Paris Hilton invest significantly in their brands.

20 / 07 / 2019

Australian Design Searches just got easier

IP Australia has recently launched a new tool to search Design registrations. The tool is based around the image recognition software already used by IP Australia.

Elvis doing trademark tip toe dance move

18 / 07 / 2019

How Kim K and Cardi B learned that their Gimmicks are not

What do Kim Kardashian, rapper Cardi B and Paris Hilton have in common? – all have come unstuck over moves to try and trade mark common words. B

Trademark white Japanese dog wearing a light blue kimono

08 / 07 / 2019

Keeping up with the kimonos - Trade Mark lessons the Kim

Australian entrepreneurs trying to trade mark a popular word as their business brand should take heed of the legal stumble by American celebrity Kim Kardashian.

Nicole Murdoch featured in Lawyers Weekly

22 / 04 / 2019

The LNP learns a valuable lesson in Domain Name protectio

Today the LNP is learning a good lesson on protecting domain names. They let LNP.COM.AU expire and someone grabbed it up and it is now redirected to Bill Shorten's Labor website.

Privacy Act Woman silenced with baind aid arcross lips

27 / 03 / 2019

Slater & Gordon attempts to trade mark the phrase "We win

Slater & Gordon is attempting to trade mark a phrase that is common in the legal industry and the EAGLEGATE news article discussing the attempt is getting a run in Australasian Lawyer.

Luxury patent wooden boat wheel helm view

22 / 03 / 2019

Lessons on protecting your trade mark online

Protect your trade mark online - don't let the domain name drop Learn lessons from Bill Clinton himself. Don't fall asleep at the wheel.

21 / 03 / 2019

Trade Mark tips from EAGLEGATE

Trade Mark Tips - Controlling Use EAGLEGATE's trade mark tips advert has been published on 4KQ. Listen to the trade mark tips below.

05 / 02 / 2019

Unethical Cyber Tips: Forging Documents

We all learn through bitter, bitter experiences. Occasionally we get to learn through the bitter experience of other people - today is such a day.

Green themed cyber background with EU flag in the middle

23 / 01 / 2019

Google Fined US$57M Under GDPR Law

Google has been slapped with a fine of US$57M by French authorities -the first penalty for a U.S. tech giant under new European data privacy rules (GDPR) that took effect last year.

18 / 01 / 2019

Domino's loses in court because it didn't tag images on i

Dominos has suffered a Court loss in America over its failure to properly tag its images with appropriate names.

Trademark Bic Mac Hamburger in front of fireplace

17 / 01 / 2019

McDonald's loses Big Mac trade mark in the EU

Remember that scene in Pulp Fiction where Vince (John Travolta) tells Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) what they call McDonald's quarter pounders in France?

Lady Justice Law figure in front of law books and globe

17 / 01 / 2019

Former Lawyer jailed for 6 years over $10M fraud

A former junior solicitor, has been sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for stealing almost $10 million from a client’s accounts.

Cyber security man on computer hacking system

28 / 10 / 2018

Glencore vs ATO AKA: Information Security/Legal Privilege

Glencore is taking the ATO to the High Court to stop it using stolen information.

Blue cyber security theme with key lock in the middle

05 / 10 / 2018

Lawyers Weekly Podcast - Cyber Security for Lawyers

Listen in to EAGLEGATE's very first Podcast on Lawyers Weekly - Nicole talks all things cyber for lawyers and how lawyers can be proactive in cyber security in their own firms.

Patented stacked amber and white pharma tablets

29 / 09 / 2018

The Weaponisation of Intellectual Property to win a trade

Canadian officials are considering granting Canada’s generic pharmaceutical firms the right to copy, sell and potentially export into the US patent protected drugs.

Cyber security showing 5 people shadow in blue background

26 / 09 / 2018

United Nations Cyber Security Breach

The United Nations is the latest organisation to experience a privacy breach. Again, the privacy breach has occurred through a third party provider and a lack of proper configuration.