Reporter: Tineka Everaardt
April 2018
Mother of two Kay Andrews couldn’t have been prouder when she published her first children’s book, featuring a fairy called Zary, but she had no idea how much it would upset one of the world’s biggest clothing brands.
Watch the interview over here
Reporter: Andrew Robertson
September 2017
ABC recently covered a story on Australian designers’ legal protection for their designs. UK and European laws protect designers with stiff fines for copy cats, but designers in Australia get little protection from counterfeiters. That’s leading to increasing calls for Australia’s intellectual property laws to be toughened.
Sharon Givoni shares her views on Australia’s intellectual property protection for designers.
Watch the interview over here
Reporter: Pippa Bradshaw
October 2017
A Current Affair recently covered a story on a Gold Coast carpet cleaner who has been accused of deceiving customers by pretending to be his competitors online. Single mum Narelle Day-Sherman, who has owned Big Red Carpet Cleaning for the past 13 years, said she had never seen such deceitful business practices.
Sharon Givoni shares her views on using competitor’s trade marks online.
Watch the interview over here.
Privacy Law Bulletin
October 2016
David Watts was previously the Commissioner for Privacy and interacted with a number of privacy and data protection organisations to enable information sharing. The Office of the Commissioner for Privacy and Data Protection was established by the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) in September 2014 which was designed to protect all information held by the Victorian public sector. This includes personal information of individuals. Sharon Givoni interviewed Mr. Watts for the Privacy Law Bulletin (published by LexisNexis) in her capacity as General Editor in October 2016 and found out what some his greatest challenges were and how he tackled them in this role.
Privacy Law Bulletin
October 2016
Colin Golvan is a Queen’s Counsel at the Victorian Bar and practices law throughout Australia in the intellectual property and trade practices areas. He has been involved in some significant cases and is also the author of the legal books “Copyright – Law and Practice” (Federation Press 2007), “An Introduction to Intellectual Property Law” (Federation Press 1992), “Words and Law” (Penguin 1990) and co-author of “Writers and the Law” (Law Book Company 1986). Amongst other roles, he has been Chairman of Indigenous Barristers’ Committee of the Victorian Bar and his clerking list, and is a trustee of the Indigenous Barristers Fund of the Victorian Bar. Sharon takes some time out to interview Colin for the IP Bulletin which she edits and talks about some key issues in IP Law that affect lawyer today.
Blog for Business Daily – Business.cmo.au NEWS
Tuesday, 2 August 2016
Most Australian businesses know that brands that were once just considered an effective way to communicate a marketing message to consumers, can actually be one of the most valuable assets that a company can own, or as it has otherwise been put “the oil of the 21st century”. This blog post featured in Business Daily (The Auzzi) goes through some things you should be considering if you want to get trade ark protection for your brand. Find out how Kraft could protect its Toblerone shape as a trade mark and how Coca-Cola protected its bottle shape as well. Strategies are involved.
Mumbrella’s Blog
Opinion piece by Sharon Givoini
1 August 2016
Mumbrella Blog post (August 2016) – From Pinterest to Instagram there’s content everywhere, but just because it’s in the public domain doesn’t
mean we have the right to use it. Lawyer Sharon Givoni takes us through “unconscious copying”, freelance content, the 10% rule and why you don’t need to register copyright to own it. August 1, 2016.
Privacy Law Bulletin
July 2016
In the July 2016 edition of the Privacy Law Bulletin (published by LexisNexis) Sharon Givoni’s interview with The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG, past High Court Justice and Australian Privacy Medal Winner was published. In it, His Honour states his views on privacy law in Australia covering interesting topics such as whether the law entitles us to protect our own individual privacy and some suggestions for reform including whether Australia should recognise a common-law remedy for the wrong of serious invasion of privacy.
Privacy Law Bulletin
July 2016
Sharon Givoni writes regular blogs for various organisations. She has written for Reed Gift Fairs on trends in IP and design law including country of original labeling, copyright issues and how terms and conditions can help your business. To read more click here….
19 July 2016 : Is your copyright, right?
12 July 2016 : The Importance of Terms and Conditions
5 July 2016 : UGG Boots dispute: Don’t be an Ugg.
Life Instyle
Online Interview for Life Instyle with Kylie
13 October 2015
When it comes to the law, a lot of us feel lost in the dark, especially when it concerns creative work. We know about intellectual property, contracts and copyright, but often we don’t know exactly what that means for the work we do as creatives and, in particular, what that means in the world of digital and social media. Sharon Givoni is an intellectual property lawyer with years of knowledge and experience working with creatives. She’s also the author of the popular and incredibly helpful book, Owning It: A Creative’s Guide to Copyright, Contracts and the Law.
We were lucky enough to hear from Sharon at Life Instyle Melbourne 2015 and I wanted to share her knowledge and experience with those who couldn’t be there to hear her speak. If you’ve ever had a question or concern about copyright or the law (and I’m betting there’s not many who haven’t), read on!
Fashion Equipped
Interview: Elizabeth Formosa, Fashion Business Consultant
3 July 2015
Fashion Equipped interviewed Sharon Givoni about her book ‘Owning It: a creative guide to copyright, contracts and the law and her views on fashion and Intellectual property law including trade marks, copyright and designs in the world of fashion getting some tips along the way.
“In such a fast-paced fashion industry landscape you simply cannot afford to be in the dark when it comes to protecting the Intellectual Property you work so hard to design, develop and build every day. Our interview with Sharon Givoni reveals the IP tips and traps you must master in your Fashion Business”.
Sharon said: “I have had clients who are established fashion designers whose garment designs have been copied and who are worried there is nothing they can do. I’ve also had to defend clients who are being accused of copying, using the copyright/design overlap as a defence”.
ABC for the 7.30 Report
Reporter: Pat McGrath
29 June 2015
In February this year, Melbourne-based design duo Peaches+Keen discovered that one of their artworks was being reproduced without their permission on a range of children’s clothing sold by a major Australian retailer. The duo managed to negotiate a settlement, but their situation is indicative of how often copyright in a design is infringed by another label, and the innocent party is often powerless to do anything about it.
Their story is nothing new for Sharon Givoni, who has helped empower a number of clients who have found themselves in similar situations in the past.
“There is a culture of ‘I hope I’ll get away with it, but I’ll make some changes and that will make it all right’,“ she said.
Givoni says small designers are often left feeling helpless when their work is ripped off.
“The smaller designers don’t think they can take legal action,” she said.
“They come to me with their arms in the air saying that they don’t have the time or energy for that sort of thing.”
“But most of the time it’s the money.”
“It costs a lot of money to litigate.”
Givoni prefers to advise her clients to take a proactive approach when it comes to copyright, trade mark and design protection. She advises clients that there are some small steps designers can take to protect themselves, such as putting a copyright notice on their posters or images, watermarking, or registering a design.
“It’s better to make the investment early than wait until the damage has been done,” she said.
Watch the interview: www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-29/target-caught-ripping-off-peaches-and-keen-clothing-design
Reporter: Sara Polanski
23 June 2015
A creative video made and posted online by Perth mother Sharon Hack was used, without permission, by a European pregnancy app and a Mexican stem cell company overseas. The show reported that Ms Hack felt ripped off by the foreign interests, who used her work without compensating her for to further their own business interests. The incident highlights the complexity of international copyright law and the difficulty of protecting intellectual property in the internet age, where content is easily accessible throughout the world just by clicking a button.
Sharon Givoni recognises that just because people think that they can take something without paying for it, doesn’t make it so.
“Many people think that because something is on the internet, it is free for the taking.”
Givoni is committed to debunking Copyright myths and empowering her clients with knowledge.
“A lot of people think that if you change something by 10 per cent, that would be ok, and that is a real fallacy.”
“If you do upload something onto the internet, whether it is onto your Facebook page, or Instagram, you are still copying someone else’s work”
Watch the interview: https://vimeo.com/131521071
The Design Files
Interview: Lucy Feagins
24 March 2015
So today, rather than the usual creative person / product / visual inspiration feast we tend to share around here, we’re introducing something a little different, but something really important. ‘Owning It‘ is a brand new book written by Melbourne lawyer Sharon Givoni, especially for local creatives.
Sharon has been running a legal practice for 15 years, and advises many local creative businesses and individuals on intellectual property, copyright, trade mark and designs law, contracts and more.
Owning It is a 560 page hard cover book comprising almost 40 chapters – a remarkable effort, and an incredible resource for any Australian creative.
‘In my own practice, I try to not just give clients answers to their questions and legal advice, but to actually help them to understand how the law works so they can be proactive about protecting their IP in the future’ says Sharon, who also frequently gives workshops and talks to professionals and students in creative industries, educating them about IP law in Australia and debunking some common myths and misunderstandings. ‘Owning it’ is a natural progression for Sharon, distilling her expertise into one easily accessible resource, with a focus on proactive strategies all creatives can employ to protect their work.
Watch the interview: www.thedesignfiles.net/2015/03/owning-it
Download: PDF version of article
Channel 7 Perth
Reporter: Tineka Everaardt
9 January 2012
In this Today Tonight interview, Sharon Givoni comments on the issue of parallel importation of consumer goods from overseas in the Australian marketplace. Not to be confused with importation of counterfeit goods – a practice which is certainly illegal – parallel imports or ‘grey goods’ are products which are legally manufactured overseas, and then imported into Australia without permission from the authorised Australian distributer. These goods are often sourced, purchased and sold in competition to the authorised goods, often at much lower prices.
The goods bear the same branding except that they were manufactured with a specific overseas market meaning that the consumer here may pay less but not get the same quality. The practice is not necessarily illegal but can nevertheless raise several issues, such as undercutting the authorised Australian product. The idea is that it is a free market but then again, if the labeling is wrong or the product is not up to Australian standards, the consumer needs to know this.
Sharon said in the interview: “Some things are much cheaper overseas, and cheaper to import, and the middle man can make a lot more money,”
Givoni says often parallel imports are composed of different ingredients or have a different taste to products made for Australians.
“They’re not the same quality, they’re not the same sizes, and they’re not the same standards.”
In the interview, Sharon Givoni also highlighted some issues regarding packaging and quality control:
“They may not have the same expiry date labeling, and perhaps most importantly for the consumer, if something does go wrong, where do you go?”
As a result of the interview Sharon Givoni wrote an article summarising the issues.
She said that many textile and fashion designers use, or incorporate their own name into their trade marks and clothing labels. More often than not, the more unique the name is, the safer you are from “copycats”. However, trade mark disputes can arise if two designers use the same or similar names and legal advice may be needed. Read article: Will the real Zara please stand up?