Australian Trade Marks Law Blog : Australian Trademarks Lawyer & Attorneys : Nicholas Weston Law Firm : Copyrights, Intellectual Property

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In Hansen Beverage Company v Bickfords (Australia) Pty Ltd [2008] FCAFC 181 (14 November 2008) the Full Federal Court has handed down a decision, in three separate judgments, that will make it easier for owners of well-known brands to establish their reputations in Australia.

The Full Court, in particular Justice Finkelstein (aka da Fink), made significant observations about the impact of indirect marketing techniques going as far as saying that these may be “better than direct marketing” for establishing reputation in cases of passing off and/or misleading and deceptive conduct under the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) (TPA).

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Starting on 3 December, trade marks owners will get first look-in on obtaining the new .tel top level domains that publish contact data directly in the DNS, not on html based websites. So brand owners should probably ensure that they are first in to register each corresponding .tel address. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has sanctioned a new top level domain name called .tel that has been set aside purely to integrate contact information directly into the heart of the internet - the world’s first global e-directory. 

A .tel domain name will enable the creation of an interactive and live communications hub to take control over how and where others communicate with peeps and businesses. .tel users will be able to publish all contact details including phone, mobile, fax, email addresses, as well as store web links, geo-location data and keywords describing a business.

.tel has already been termed the “the Google of online address books” and over 100 ICANN-accredited registrars have signed on to sell the .tel domain names.