83.
- A registered trade mark is personal property.
- Equities in respect of a registered trade mark may be enforced in the same way as equities in respect of any other personal property."
Section 22(1) provides that a registered owner, subject only to any rights vested in another person, may deal with the trade mark as its absolute owner and give in good faith discharges for any consideration for that dealing.
Other prior legislation which puts the Packaging Act in context has been dealt with in the reasons of Kiefel J[1]. This includes legislation at State and Territory level prohibiting or restricting the promotion of tobacco products at the point of retail sale[2].
Of particular importance is the Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992 (Cth). Section 15 of that Act prohibits tobacco advertisements, but s 9(2) provides that material that appears on the packaging of tobacco products or on the products themselves is not a tobacco advertisement. It is also necessary to note Commonwealth legislation covering product information standards. What material may appear on the packaging of tobacco products has been regulated by the Commonwealth Parliament with progressively greater stringency. Material required to be on tobacco product packaging includes health warnings (graphic images as well as text) and a reference to a "Quitline" telephone service and website. The relevant regulations—the Trade Practices (Consumer Product Information Standards) (Tobacco) Regulations 2004 (Cth) and the Competition and Consumer (Tobacco) Information Standard 2011 (Cth) ("the 2011 Information Standard")—are also dealt with in the reasons of Kiefel J[3], rendering it sufficient to note here that the 2011 Information Standard (which will effectively apply on and after 1 December 2012) requires this legislatively mandated product information to cover 75% of the front of the packaging and 90% of the back of the packaging[4].
The Packaging Act
The objects of the Packaging Act are to improve public health[5] and to give effect to certain obligations that Australia has as a party to the World Health
