Microsoft Corporation [2008] ADO 2 (16 January 2008)
Summary
We previously reported that the Australian Designs Office
(ADO) recently refused to register type fonts under the old
Australian Designs Act 1906 (June 2007 newsletter). Now, the
ADO has held that a type font is not a registrable design under
the Designs Act 2003 (the 2003 Act). The ADO appears to be
reluctant to extend design protection for designs that are
primarily displayed electronically without necessarily having
any independent physical existence.
Background
Under the 2003 Act, the design registration regime was
changed from substantive examination of an application
pre-registration to substantive examination post-registration,
where only a "formalities check" was performed. Other
changes under the 2003 Act included a significantly revised
definition of a "design" as "the overall
appearance of a product resulting from one
