Author: VAI IP COMMERCIAL

Vai IP is a boutique intellectual property law and consulting firm based in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Our focus is to provide clients a more efficient and cost effective way in protecting and maintaining their intellectual property rights in Papua New Guinea. Our founder, Mea Vai, is passionate about intellectual property and has over 17 years practical legal experience in a top-tier legal firm.  Using this vast experience and driven by technology, Mea has  carefully crafted a range of services and practice management systems that makes Vai IP transparent, responsive and proactive. Our pricing for standard and routine IP…

Did you know that it’s an offence for a person or company to publish or cause to be published any unfair statement in any commercial advertisement?  If you didn’t know, you do now! There is one little legislation in Papua New Guinea that covers unfair statements in advertisements which is called Commercial Advertisement (Protection of the Public) Act Chapter 352.  I don’t think this Act gets much attention but the fact of the matter is, it’s a legislation that protects consumers. Unfair Statement under this Act means a statement or representation contained in an advertisement that is untrue or inaccurate or…

Papua New Guinea has existing copyright legislation, namely, the Copyright and Neighboring Rights Act 2000. There is a general tendency for Papua New Guineans to think that copyright only covers music or some form of writing.  For this reason, we’ve tried to list below the kind of works that are eligible for copyright protection under the Act. And before you ask, Papua New Guinea does not have a formal registration process where one can register his or her artistic works to be eligible for copyright protection.  Protection is, put simply, automatic! So let’s see what’s covered under the Act: literary…

Several years ago a client created this unique product and the initial reception he got from potential customers was “we’ve been waiting for something like this for yonks!”. The product was a success, it met a demand. Being the creative lad he is, he came up with a catchy brand name too and like the product, the brand name was well received by customers. A couple of years down the track, his success continued to grow but he came up with a problem. At first he shrugged it off, but he soon realized that if the problem continued and he…

The Papua New Guinea Trade Marks Act Chapter 385 defines a trade mark as a mark used in relation to goods for the purpose of indicating a connection in the course of trade between the goods and a person who has the right, to use the mark. A trade mark is also typically referred to as a brand. A trade mark includes the following or a combination of them: word (whether it be plain font or a ‘fancy’ font) device heading label ticket signature phrase letter number logo image aspect of packaging

In my almost two decades experience in intellectual property, I’ve noticed a common practice undertaken by many PNG businesses that find themselves confronted with imported counterfeit products.  The typical approach taken by these local companies is to put out notices in the local daily informing the public about certain counterfeits circulating the market and, in some cases, warning consumers to refrain from purchasing these fake products as they pose possible health risks. The warnings are serious particularly when the counterfeits in question are pharmaceutical products. These notices are somewhat reactionary to a potential intellectual property infringement. Many local business owners…

A colleague recently referred me to a product that was being sold on a French fashion website MatchesFashion.com. The product, which appears to come under the brand “The Row” – a US fashion label, is that of a stringed knitted bag much like Papua New Guinea’s iconic stringed bag, the Bilum. Ironically, the product itself is also named “Bilum” which has raised the ire of many passionate and patriotic Papua New Guineans. The Row being a luxurious brand isn’t selling this iconic bag cheaply either. It’s got a price tag of US$2,335 (approximately PGK7,000). Papua New Guineans who have seen the…

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” parallax_speed=”0.3″ video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” overlay_color=”” video_preview_image=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” padding_right=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” center_content=”no” last=”no” min_height=”” hover_type=”none” link=””][fusion_text] One of the most beautiful places I’ve visited in the Pacific is Cook Islands. It’s simply Paradise! Crystal clear waters, lovely local smiles the peacefulness and tranquility of it all made this particular visit a truly memorable one. I stayed…

If you are thinking of filing a trade mark application in Papua New Guinea, the information below should be handy.  We’ve also included the stages we raise our invoices so that you can be sure what stages you can expect to receive invoices. Generally, the filing and prosecution process is straight forward. Prepare & Filing Application When an applicant or its agent files an application with the Intellectual Property Office of Papua New Guinea, the Registrar typically endorses copies of the application and issues a receipt confirming payment of the filing fee.  An official notice confirming the filing date and…

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” parallax_speed=”0.3″ video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” overlay_color=”” video_preview_image=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” padding_right=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” center_content=”no” last=”no” min_height=”” hover_type=”none” link=””][fusion_text] Approximately 200 trade mark applications were filed at the Registry last quarter and subject to there being no opposition proceedings instituted by 24 March 2018 or any extended time thereafter an estimated 150 applications will proceed to registration. For those…