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ARTICLE · 20 OCTOBER 2024

Parallel importing, trade marks and Australian Consumer Law: how the cookie crumbled

Corrs Chambers Westgarth
Corrs Chambers Westgarth
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Corrs Chambers Westgarth

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Great value for businesses in proactively registering trade marks as a method of defending their brand in Australia.

AustraliaIntellectual Property
Eugenia Kolivos
Eugenia Kolivos
Isabella Bicego
Isabella Bicego
Megan Pashalis
Megan Pashalis
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A Bondi pop-up store recently made headlines for selling cookies from the popular U.S. brand Crumbl Cookies (Crumbl). The incident offers a useful reminder for established international businesses to protect, defend and monitor their brand usage in Australia.

The pop-up, promoted through a TikTok account with the handle @CrumblSydney, announced their Australian presence with the phrase 'Crumbl is landing in Australia'. Reports suggest trade marks registered to Crumbl were used to promote the pop up, although the organisers state that they didn't use them in any marketing activities. Crumbl has a number of trade mark registrations and applications on foot in Australia, including their flagship logo featuring the words 'crumbl cookies', combined with a drawing of a baker's face and hat. Crumbl also use a distinctive light pink colour on their packaging and marketing collateral.

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