How to best protect a company slogan: Believe it, or not…

Posted: 04/12/2009 The recent decision of the Federal Court in State of Victoria v Pacific Technologies (Australia) Pty Ltd (No 2) [2009] FCA 737 confirmed that a business which seeks to protect its slogan ought to register a trade mark instead of relying solely upon the protection derived from copyright. In this case, Pacific Technologies unsuccessfully sought copyright protection over the following phrase: “Help-Help-Driver-in-Danger-Call-Police-Ph-000.” The Court considered that, in general, titles, short phrases and invented words do not involve literary compositions and are therefore not substantial enough to warrant copyright protection. Courts have historically found that short phrases such as “Opportunity Knocks”, “Exxon” and “Miss World” do not attract copyright protection because the phrase is either unoriginal or insufficiently substantial to qualify as a literary work. Accordingly, businesses should appreciate that when seeking to protect their valuable trading names and slogans, trade mark protection (as opposed to copyright) is the best form of legal protection.