Author: vaiip
Earlier this year, a young man came to me concerned about a potential copyright infringement matter. Like any typical copyright matter, a design he created was copied by a corporate entity and subsequently applied on a line garments and sold to the public. All this, without his authority. He was obviously disappointed when saw the design on the garments and even more furious when the garments were being sold to the public by a popular retailer. But he had an even bigger worry. What was he going to do to get compensated for the infringement. How would he go about…
Susan is an up and coming fashion designer in Papua New Guinea. She’s been in the industry for a couple of years now but still considers herself an “amateur”. About a year ago while shopping at one of the local retailers, she saw a skirt displayed at the storefront. She immediately noticed a familiar design printed on it and took a closer look. It didn’t take long before concluding that the design looked substantially similar, if not, identical to a design she had done earlier and posted it on Facebook for a friends to see. She was disappointed and furious…
Are you thinking of rebranding your business name or a product in 2019? Rebranding can be an expensive exercise. Do it wrong and you could pay a heavy price – a very heavy price. In this two-part series, I’m going to explain to you what could go wrong and in the second part my recommendation of considerations you should take when planning on the rebranding exercise. In fact, these considerations should be the recommended steps if you are to minimize the risk of infringement, litigation or generally issues that could hinder your business activities under your new brand. Background When…
Around this time last year, a major retail outlet in Port Moresby was heavily promoting a new “top of the range” wide screen television model. Within the shop, the music was cranked up a few more decibels to draw customers to its electronic section. It didn’t take long before the numbers in this section started swelling up. In this section, televisions sets on display were of different sizes many of them switched on showing the crispy clear images. I too was driven there by the buzz and whilst admiring the quality of these television sets, there was something on the…
Are you looking to file an application to patent an invention? Or do you wish to register an industrial design? If the latter click here. If the former, read on. There are two types of applications that can be filed. One is a convention application and the other is an application entering the national phase. Convention Application Filing Requirements A. Letter of Intent to Apply for patent B. Original signed Form 1 C. Invention Description (including Abstract, Claims) in English D. Figures and/or Drawings F. Original signed certificate of Translation or verified statement of translation if description not in English…
Are you considering registering your trade mark? If so, please find below a list of requirements you will need have handy when requesting us to assist you file a trade mark application with the Papua New Guinea Intellectual Property Office. A. Name of Applicant B. Full Trade or Business Address of Applicant C. Country of Incorporation for Applicant D. Representation of Trade Mark E. List of Goods/Services for which the trade mark will be used F. Trading Style (if any) G. Status of Use – whether (a) in use / or (b) proposed to be used H. Nominated Address for…
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…
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