Um, wouldn't false representation/passing off require that a reasonable person could be misled?

Probably. But I'm afraid that your free 1/2 hr consultation period has expired.

I will be happy to carry out further investigation into the relevant case law at my standard rate of $300 p/h.

Where shall I…

For instance, if I made leaflets that looked like electoral office ones and stated that the upcoing referendum had been cancelled, that would reasonably be actionable.

An obvious parody wouldn't.

set in train a repeal of the 'commissioning rule'.

Which appears to still be in train, even if I don't quite know what it is.

I understand that your boss/hirer would then have to explicitly take the copyright in contract if they wanted it?

The important part of the bill…

At the same time Tizard announced the satire and parody exemption review which has, I assume, been buried, she set in train a repeal of the 'commissioning rule'.

Which appears to still be in train, even if I don't quite know what it is.

I…

So, as the public are the emplyers of Government, we own Orange Guy. Yes?.

Yes the government (or their subsidiary, the electoral office) own Orange Guy.

No we're not the employers of the government, no we don't own Orange Guy. We're taxpayers and citizens.

Yes, tehy would have had an eaiser job of it is he was registered, but i don't think it's actually that hard to access if he isn't.

In every case it's down to the courts. If he's registered, they need only prove that the use is infringing on their mark.…

I would have thought that, as with intellectual property in the private sector, an employee has no right to anything they create whilst working for their employer.
That said, is not the public the employer of government? and in so being, the owner of the property?

Depends on the contract,…

Rich, yes you're right that there's some protection, but it's very hard to access. You have to go to court simply to determine that there is sufficient existing use. There's also no "defend it or lose it" requirement.

My understanding is that the intial levels of protection or legal recourse…

As an aside, my recollection is that protests at Parliament were often allowed to proceed until shortly before nightfall (including one where students occupied the top of the main steps).

If that's the 1996 bus trip, the students made the explicit decision to stay until after nightfall to challenge this…

Lyndon, it's hard to know how the courts will rule. In the…

there is a certain amount of protection available just because the mark has been used enough within a certain context to become more or less instantly recognisable

Plus he's got the logo on his tummy.

AFAIK there's been more high profile cases round here lately against parody use over trademarks than…

Matthew:

However, is the orange man actually trademarked? I looked at the elections website and saw nothing that answered the question. If he's not, then the issue doesn't even arise.

Not quite correct. Even if he/she/it isn't formally registered, there is a certain…

Graeme: Would you be of a mind to provide a precis of the progress of the matter through the Courts? I note the settlement was described as 'out-of-court' and that I can find only a few references online to Court proceedings.

The civil action for damages really never got much…

As an aside, my recollection is that protests at…

Not as such, anyway. I did have the idea government agencies shouldn't ought to be suppressing that kind of thing.…