<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"
	>
<channel>
	<title>News &amp; Updates</title>
	<link>https://www.bowltlawyers.com.au/news</link>
	<atom:link href="https://www.bowltlawyers.com.au/news" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<description></description>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>


<item>
<link>https://www.bowltlawyers.com.au/news/trade-mark-and-copyright-scams-and-other-ip-related-invitations-businesses-beware-111s50</link>
<title><![CDATA[Trade Mark and Copyright Scams and other IP related &quot;invitations&quot;- Businesses Beware!]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Scams are a feature of everyday life and business these days and I have a real problem with shonky operators trying to do people and businesses out of their hard earned cash, so thought I would share some tips with you about some IP scams and IP renewal invitations.
]]></description>
<content><![CDATA[Scams are a feature of everyday life and business these days and I have a real problem with shonky operators trying to do people and businesses out of their hard earned cash, so thought I would share some tips with you about some IP scams and IP renewal invitations.

Trade Mark Scams

My firm registers a lot of trade marks and there are fairly regular IP scams doing the circuit, the most recent of which included emails to businesses from a bogus IP registration company indicating that:


	They had received instructions to register a trade mark, but noticed that the recipients business had already been using it for a while, so they wanted to give them an opportunity to register first (how&rsquo;s that for a conflict of interest and not acting in your client&rsquo;s best interests??)
	Pointing out all sorts of problems that would arise, including defending trade mark infringement proceedings and rebranding costing potentially thousands of dollars, if the business did not register the trade mark ASAP.


Like most scams these days they were fairly sophisticated and in fact included the names of real lawyers in Sydney, although their names had been used in conjunction with bogus IP registration companies. Needless to say the lawyers had not sanctioned the fraudulent use of their names.

I must have received at least 10 enquiries from clients about them, including from some businesses for whom I&rsquo;d already registered trade marks, which only highlighted the random nature of the scam.

Copyright Scams

Recently I&rsquo;ve become aware of a copyright scam emanating from a dodgy German company called RD Legal GmbH which trades as COPYTRACK. This appears to be a genuine company, although it is not a law firm as the name implies. It made the mistake of sending my firm an email alleging that they act on behalf of a bogus &ldquo;rights holder&rdquo; of an image which is on my website and indicating that the image is owned by their client and asking me to prove that I have a license to use the image, failing which a license fee will be payable to their &ldquo;client&rdquo;.

I pointed out that:


	Their client doesn&rsquo;t appear to actually be a genuine legal entity,
	The image is in fact owned by another rights holder and I have a valid license.
	If they decide to institute legal proceedings I will seek a punitive legal costs award against the claimant and/or their lawyers, and finally
	Since they don&rsquo;t have a claim, I would not be responding to any further communications.


I then received no less than 6 further emails, becoming more and more threatening and demanding payment of an amount of &euro;350 for past usage and an additional &euro;481.50 for an ongoing license, failing which legal proceedings would be instituted. Clearly the follow-up emails were computer-generated and my email had not even been read.

I ignored those further emails and received nothing further, but watch this space. They seem to work on the principle that if the amount claimed is not too significant and they are aggressive enough, then then some people will just pay to avoid the hassle. Apparently that tactic sometimes works.

Invitations to Renew Trade Marks or Business Names.

Trade marks are administered by IP Australia and business names by ASIC and they usually advise you a few months before expiry that you need to renew. However, there are a number of companies out there, which send reminders to people to renew their trade mark or business name, often 6 &ndash; 12 months prior to renewal for a specific fee.

These letters are technically legal, but set out the fee as a globular amount and this is significantly more than the actual IP Australia or ASIC fee to renew, as it includes the company&rsquo;s management fee. However, they don&rsquo;t point this out to you. The letters look very official and can create the impression that they are from an official regulatory body.

I had a client a few years back who proudly told me that he had renewed several trade marks through one of these companies after receiving a renewal letter, and I unfortunately had to point out to him that it cost him a couple of thousand dollars more than it should have. Renewals of trade marks or business names are so straightforward that I advise clients to handle the renewals themselves.

So how do you deal with scams or invitations like this??


	If it relates to a trade mark or a business name and it doesn&rsquo;t come from IP Australia or ASIC , then it&rsquo;s either a scam, or possibly an invitation from an IP company to renew a trade mark or business name for a fee. In either case, don&rsquo;t respond and please forward the document to me for advice - I don&rsquo;t charge for this service.
	If it&rsquo;s a copyright scam, then
	
		ensure that you have a legitimate license to use images on your website or any electronic marketing materials. If necessary clarify this with your web developer or graphic designer.
		Assuming you have a legitimate license, feel free to forward the document to me, together with relevant details of your license and I would be happy to advise you on a suitable get stuffed response to send to the scam company - again no fee for this service.
	
	


As an endnote, you should be aware that there are legitimate claims made on a fairly regular basis for copyright infringement of images owned by well-known media companies. I&rsquo;m aware of at least two recently, which resulted in claims being made via a large well-known Australian law firm. These are not scams and  should be taken seriously.

Any queries, please contact us for further advice
]]></content>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.bowltlawyers.com.au/news/trade-mark-and-copyright-scams-and-other-ip-related-invitations-businesses-beware-111s50</guid>
<pubDate>15 Sep 2026 05:32:00 GMT</pubDate>
<enclosure url='https://www.bowltlawyers.com.au/uploads/111/50/med-blog-trademark-copyright-scams.jpg' length='91894' type='image/jpeg'/>
</item>

<item>
<link>https://www.bowltlawyers.com.au/news/some-common-legal-risks-with-small-and-medium-sized-businesses-111s49</link>
<title><![CDATA[Some common legal risks with small and medium-sized businesses]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[We explore some of the most common legal risks we see small and medium sized businesses run into and talk about why they&#39;re necessary.
]]></description>
<content><![CDATA[Inadequate Client/Customer Engagement Documentation

These are terms and conditions of trade or a more specific agreement, such as a Consultancy or some form of Services Agreement. Alot of businesses neglect this and it can cause significant loss of income.

Why are they necessary?


	It&#39;s crucial that your client engagement documentation is clear about the scope and cost of your services, when you will be paid and what will happen if you don&#39;t get paid. There are other various other industry specific issues which need to be taken into account.
	A professionally drafted set of terms and conditions or engagement agreement creates a positive image for your business and shows that you take your business and your customers seriously.


Inadequate Intellectual property (IP) protection, especially trade marks.

Most businesses do not have trade marks registered with IP Australia

Why are they necessary?


	Many businesses think that if they have a company or a registered business name, then they have adequate IP protection. That&#39;s not the case, as a company or business name provides no meaningful IP protection.
	It&#39;s important that if you have a well-developed brand name and/or product/s, then you should be registering trade marks to protect your business from other businesses trading in a similar name, costing you money and creating confusion in the marketplace.
	Trade marks can be valuable assets, particularly if you are selling your business.


Inadequate or Incorrect Employment Contracts

In most businesses employees are your most important asset, who can make or break your business and you need to distinguish between so-called &quot;normal&quot; employees and independent contractors and use the correct contract.

Why is this necessary?


	The difference between standard Employment Contracts and Independent Contractor Agreements can be quite subtle and the fact that you may have an Independent Contractor Agreement with someone or call them that is not the legal test. The law considers the substance, rather than the form of a contract, regardless of what you call the arrangement.
	If you get it wrong, the financial consequences can be significant, resulting in employee entitlements being back claimed for months or even years and significant fines.
	Both employment and contractor agreements also need to take into account protection of confidential information and protection of your IP. Changes to non-compete and non-solicitation laws for ex-employees are also about to be introduced to Parliament, so I will report back on those later. In the meantime, make sure you manage your most important asset properly.


 

Any queries, please contact us for further advice
]]></content>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.bowltlawyers.com.au/news/some-common-legal-risks-with-small-and-medium-sized-businesses-111s49</guid>
<pubDate>09 Sep 2026 05:28:00 GMT</pubDate>
<enclosure url='https://www.bowltlawyers.com.au/uploads/111/49/med-common-legal-risks-small-medium-businesses.jpg' length='89563' type='image/jpeg'/>
</item>

<item>
<link>https://www.bowltlawyers.com.au/news/copyright-confusion-111s35</link>
<title><![CDATA[Copyright Confusion?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Most people have a reasonable idea of the concept of a trade mark or patent, but copyright can be really confusing. Simply put, copyright is a bundle of exclusive rights that an owner can exercise in relation to defined categories of &ldquo;copyright works&rdquo;, the most common of which are &ldquo;artistic works&rdquo; such as photographs or graphic designs, or &ldquo;literary works&rdquo; such as magazine articles or books.
]]></description>
<content><![CDATA[Most people have a reasonable idea of the concept of a trade mark or patent, but copyright can be really confusing.

Simply put, copyright is a bundle of exclusive rights that an owner can exercise in relation to defined categories of &ldquo;copyright works&rdquo;, the most common of which are &ldquo;artistic works&rdquo; such as photographs or graphic designs, or &ldquo;literary works&rdquo; such as magazine articles or books. Probably the most important right of the copyright owner is the right to reproduce their work and prevent someone else from doing so without their consent.

Issues involving copyright are common in business, for example designing the logo/brand for your business, or putting together promotional documentation, and because you want to protect your place in the marketplace, you need to protect your intellectual property in those works. Keep in mind that when developing a brand there are likely to be both copyright and trade mark issues involved.

Let&rsquo;s consider a straightforward example.

You commission a graphic designer to develop a logo for your business, which you intend to register as a trade mark with IP Australia. In most cases you will be provided with an image, usually in PNG, JPG, or WebP format, which you can then use for promotional media, such as your website, brochures and business cards. However, that image cannot be readily changed and modified, because the designer has retained what is known as the &ldquo;RAW&rdquo; files (not an acronym by the way!). These are files which form the basis for the end product, which enable the designer to edit, change and modify their design, unlike the image file which is provided to the client, which cannot be easily modified, apart from changing its orientation and size.

This is where the confusion about copyright can arise.

On the one hand the client, not surprisingly, thinks that they will own all rights in the design, because they paid for it and should be able to change it in whatever manner they think fit, whereas the legal and commercial reality is that unless the copyright in the image has been clearly transferred to the client, then the copyright in the design  in most cases belongs to the graphic designer, who in turn grants a limited licence to the client to use the design for the envisaged purpose.

On the other hand, the reason why most graphic designers want to retain control and ownership of their RAW files is to prevent the design being drastically changed by the client or another designer, which could result in a competitor modifying the design and the possibility of reputational damage to the original designer, if the second designer makes a hash of it.

So what&rsquo;s the solution?

If you are a graphic designer, make it abundantly clear in your terms and conditions what rights are actually being transferred to the client and perhaps charge a premium if RAW files are being transferred. If you are a client, then clearly understand what you intend to use the design for and make that clear to the designer, and if you envisage needing the RAW files, then ensure that they are transferred to you (preferably without paying a premium for them!)

Either way, if you have any problems, please contact us for further advice.
]]></content>
<guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.bowltlawyers.com.au/news/copyright-confusion-111s35</guid>
<pubDate>31 Aug 2026 23:19:00 GMT</pubDate>
<enclosure url='https://www.bowltlawyers.com.au/uploads/111/35/med-copyright-confusion.jpg' length='39956' type='image/jpeg'/>
</item>

</channel>
</rss>
