MARCH 2008
Sticking with tradition
Trade mark offices and legislators in the Asia-Pacific region are moving beyond traditional trade marks, but progress is slow. Peter Ollier explains how far they have got
The world of non-traditional trade marks provides ample opportunity for IP cynics to pick out the most unusual registrations in an effort to poke fun at the entire IP system. Stories about a company's attempts to "trade mark a colour" or a short piece of music regularly provoke outrage from people with little knowledge of how trade marks really work. Registrations such as those for the smell of beer on flights of darts or the sound of a male and female voice impersonating a dog and a parrot are easy to caricature.
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