Newsletter - March 2025

Welcome to Our Latest Updates

We’re excited to bring you the latest news. Here’s what’s happening at Zone Law:

1. Office Closures for Easter and ANZAC Day
2. Scam Alert: Protect Yourself from Fraudulent Activity
3. Sirpa Alalääkkölä Update: Landmark Supreme Court Decision
4. Looking Ahead: INTA 2025 in San Diego

 

 

 

Our offices will be closed the following dates:

1. Easter Break:
• Our offices will be closed from Friday, 18 April 2025, and will reopen on Tuesday, 22 April 2025.
2. ANZAC Day:
• Our offices will be closed from Friday, 25 April 2025, and will reopen on Monday, 28 April 2025.

Important Information Regarding Submissions:

• The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand and IP Australia will also be closed on these dates.
• Applications and documents submitted on these closure dates will be treated as filed on the next working day.
• Any deadlines that fall on these dates will automatically be extended to the next working day.

Please plan your submissions accordingly to avoid delays.

 

 

 

 

We’ve recently become aware of scams involving IP Australia, Australasian Trademark and Patent Attorneys, and New Zealand Law Firms. While email and online platforms are essential tools for communication in today’s world, they are unfortunately also exploited by scammers seeking to
defraud individuals and organizations.

What You Should Be Aware Of:

• Payment Requests: If we ever ask you to transfer money to us, please call us to verify our account details, particularly if you have not made a payment to us previously.
• Verify Email Addresses: Always double-check the sender’s email address. We only use email addresses that end in @zonelaw.co.nz or @zoneip.co.nz. If you receive a payment request from an email that does not come from one of these domains, be cautious.
• Suspect Emails or Invoices: If you are ever in doubt about the legitimacy of an email, invoice, or payment request related to your intellectual property or legal matters, please don’t hesitate to call us. We will help you confirm whether the message is legitimate or potentially a scam.

By staying vigilant and following these simple precautions, we can all protect ourselves from potential fraud.

  

 

 

The Supreme Court of New Zealand issued its decision in the landmark Sirpa Elise Alalääkkölä v Paul Anthony Palmer case. Zone Law acts for Ms Alalääkkölä.

The case addresses the complex interplay between copyright and relationship property law. Copyright is comprised of moral and economic rights. Economic rights are transferable, moral rights are not. This tension has been at the heart of the legal difficulty in determining how to address copyright in the context of relationship property. The Court has determined that the economic rights are in effect relationship property, but the artist (or author) has control over how the work is to be dealt with, in essence giving effect to the moral rights. The Court determined 4 categories in which the work could be classified, and it is up to the artist (author) as to the category in which each work is to be allocated.

While the case related to copyright in artworks, it is likely to be treated as influential in cases dealing with rights in intellectual property (IP) and relationship property claims in many other jurisdictions.

The Court identified that ownership will be shared with a spouse on separation unless another arrangement is made in a property sharing agreement

 

      INTA Annual Meeting 2025

We’re thrilled to announce that Zone Law will be attending INTA 2025 in San Diego! We look forward to meeting you all there and discussing the latest in intellectual property and legal matters.