• International Conferences
• What’s In A Name
• Mary Potter Hospice – Strawberry Festival 2023
• New Staff
• Christmas Closures

International Conferences

Theodore Doucas, a Principal of Zone Law, continued his worldwide travels. In October he headed to FICPI’s Open Forum conference in London. Two standout sessions for Theodore were on traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions as well as sustainable profitability in IP firms. He ended the conference with a fantastic dinner in the main lobby of the Natural History Museum.

Theodore also attended the AIPPI World Congress conference hosted in Istanbul where he enjoyed catching up with friends and colleagues.

In November Jeremy Hunter, also a Principal of Zone Law and Karen Doucas, the COO, attended the Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA) conference in Singapore. Whilst there, both reconnected with friends and clients.

In November, Theodore attended the International Trademark Association Leadership (INTA) conference held in Houston USA. Theodore has been appointed to the Trademark Office Practices Committee. He was pleased to catch up with friends, and colleagues and is looking forward to next year!

What’s in a Name

When considering a potential name for your brand or business, it’s worth giving thought to how you might protect that name. A brand can be a valuable asset for a business if correctly protected. However, if a business can’t stop others using their name, that name doesn’t carry much value.

The best way to protect a brand name is to register it as a trademark. However, registering generic terms as trademarks is not allowed as it would stop other traders who might legitimately want to use the mark.

So, while choosing a generic name for your business (e.g., Auckland Plumbers, or Christchurch Builders) tells your customers what you do, it can be very difficult to register as a trademark and therefore difficult to protect and build a brand around.

The easiest trademarks to protect and therefore some of the most valuable are unique and distinctive – think Google®, Nike®, or Panadol®.

If you are thinking of adopting a fresh new brand name or launching a new product or offering in the New Year, Zone can help you protect it. Contact us today to find out more.

Mary Potter Hospice – Strawberry Festival 2023

Zone supported Mary Potter Hospice by purchasing delicious strawberry sundaes as part of their annual Strawberry Festival fundraiser. The volunteer-based organisation raised $57,967.00 to help provide free-of-charge hospice care and palliative care services to those in our communities that need it.

New Staff

Since our last newsletter we have had some new staff join our team. Sonia Dhaliwal has joined our Auckland office as a Lawyer.

Christmas Closures

Our Auckland and Wellington Offices will be closed for business from 5pm Friday 22 December and will reopen on Monday 15 January 2024. We will have skeleton crew from Tuesday 2 January for urgent IP filings.

The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand will be closed from Monday 25 December 2023 and reopen on Wednesday 3 January 2024.

IP Australia will be closed from Monday 25 December 2023 and reopen on Tuesday 2 January 2024.

Applications and documents submitted on these dates will have the following working day as their filing date. If the deadline for filing an application or document falls on these dates, then the deadline will shift to the following day.