Practice area 06
IP, Media and IT Law
Creative people are in the business of expressing ideas. We make sure those ideas are identified, protected, licensed and — where necessary — defended.
Creative people are in the business of expressing ideas. They take an idea and convert it into a form of entertainment, an application to make life or work simpler, or perhaps a material that we will use.
Peter Bolam is recognised in this area for providing expert and practical legal advice so that clients:
- Understand and protect their intellectual property — copyrights, patents, designs, confidential know-how and trade marks.
- Ensure that the products and services using their intellectual property comply with consumer, defamation and privacy laws.
- Are protected by contracts that provide maximum commercial benefit.
Who we act for
Our Media and Technology team has extensive experience in the corporate, commercial and dispute resolution services required by a broad spectrum of creative businesses, including:
- Screen (film, television and online) content producers.
- Screen content aggregators, licensors and distributors.
- App, games, website and software developers and service suppliers.
- Technology developers and suppliers.
- Advertising and photographic agencies.
- Designers.
- Writers, artists and publishers.
What we advise on
- Identification, ownership, transfer and licensing of intellectual property.
- Use or adaptation of the intellectual property of other persons.
- Option and assignment agreements.
- Joint venture, co-production and project collaboration agreements.
- Financing, licensing and distribution agreements.
- Private investment and crowdfunding.
- Impact of Australian consumer, defamation and privacy laws.
- Audit of intellectual property assets.
- Registration, licensing and protection of trade marks including opposition and non-use proceedings in the Trade Marks Office.
- Protection of copyright, patents and confidential information from infringement, and of reputations from defamation.
Recent work
Our lawyers have enjoyed longstanding relationships and involvement with key participants and decision makers in the media and technology industries. Our technology clients range from those needing us to customise their software and services agreements — such as for Feral Arts' PlaceStories platform — to those needing advice on defects warranties for the products they supply.
Examples of recent work with clients in the media industry include contracting for Wild Fury's feature-length docu-drama First Fagin, funded by Screen Tasmania, the Melbourne International Film Festival Premiere Fund, Screen Queensland and a private financier; for Carbon Media in relation to its series Handball Heroes, broadcast on ABC and distributed by the Australian Children's Television Foundation; for Benchmark Films' television food series On The Grill, broadcast in New Zealand; and for BK Films' natural history project Reptilian Battleground, broadcast by ABC and National Geographic Channels.
Your contacts
All of our people
Related practice areas
All areasProperty Services
Whether it is a large commercial project or a more tailored arrangement, our Property Services team has the expertise to assist you.
Explore 02Corporate and Commercial
If it's a business activity, our corporate advisers have been there and done that.
Explore 03Litigation and Dispute Resolution
Our approach is to resolve disputes fast and efficiently to make a real difference for our clients.
ExploreIP and media questions
Owning, protecting and commercialising ideas.
General information only, current at the time of writing — not legal advice. Every matter turns on its own facts, so please talk to us before acting on anything here.
Do I need to register copyright in Australia?
No — copyright arises automatically when an original work is created in material form. There is no registration system in Australia. What matters instead is being able to prove authorship, date and chain of ownership, and having written assignments where the creator was not your employee.
What does a registered trade mark actually give me?
An exclusive statutory right to use the mark for the goods and services it is registered against, and a much stronger position for stopping others. Registration runs in ten year renewable terms. Unregistered marks can only be protected through passing off and the Australian Consumer Law, which is slower, harder and more expensive.
Who owns intellectual property created by a contractor?
Usually the contractor, not you — the default rule differs from employees, whose work-related creations generally vest in the employer. If you commission design, software, photography or content and want to own it, the assignment has to be in writing. This is the single most common IP problem we see in businesses that have grown quickly.
Someone has registered a trade mark they are not using. Can it be removed?
Possibly. A registration can be challenged for non-use where the mark has not been used in good faith for a continuous period, subject to the qualifying periods in the Trade Marks Act. Non-use applications are frequently the cleanest route to a mark you want but cannot register.
What should a software development agreement cover?
Ownership of the code and of any pre-existing or third-party components, licence terms for anything not assigned, acceptance testing, warranties and defect rectification, source code escrow where the business depends on it, data and privacy obligations, and support arrangements. Whose IP it is at the end should never be left to implication.
What is pre-publication legal review?
Review of material before it is published or broadcast, for defamation, contempt, privacy, confidentiality and consumer-law risk. It is far cheaper than dealing with a concerns notice afterwards — and since the 2021 amendments to Queensland's defamation laws, notice and time limits move quickly once something has been published.
How do I protect confidential information and know-how?
Confidentiality agreements before disclosure, contractual obligations in employment and contractor agreements, and practical controls over who can access what. Equity protects genuinely confidential information, but only where it has been treated as confidential — information circulated freely inside a business is difficult to protect afterwards.
Get in touch
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Tell us what you are dealing with. We will tell you, plainly, what your options are and what it is likely to cost.