Victoria University of Wellington Law Review

In Memoriam: Dame Alison Quentin-Baxter

2024-03-24T20:50:47+00:00

A memorial for Dame Alison Quentin-Baxter.

Other Special Circumstances and the Registration of Trade Marks

2024-03-24T21:13:39+00:00

Under s 26(b) of the Trade Marks Act 2002 (the 2002 Act), where "other special circumstances" exist and it is considered "proper", a trade mark application may be registered despite its conflicting with an existing trade mark. What amounts to "other special circumstances" is not defined in the 2002 Act, and the exception has not been subject to detailed judicial consideration. This lacuna creates challenges for applicants, their advisers, the Intellectual Property Office and the courts. In this article, by considering the text, context and historical purpose of such an exception, I argue that the provision should be understood as a mechanism to grant registration where this would avoid injustice because of the existence of out-of-the-ordinary circumstances faced by the trade mark applicant or which relate to the position between the trade mark applicant and the owner of a conflicting registration. A wide range of circumstances may be deemed "special" under s 26(b). However, I suggest that evidence of prior use per se and without more does not and should not automatically fall within the exception. Further, adjudicators should continue to approach the exception cautiously and narrowly to ensure it does not undermine other core tenets of New Zealand's trade mark system.

Woodhouse Heresies

2024-03-24T21:16:41+00:00

The radical principles behind the 1967 Woodhouse Report were eclipsed by shifting political styles—and gradually abandoned as heretical. We can now turn to Sir Owen's own notion, that "the apparent heresies of one generation become the orthodoxies of the next", to explore how core Woodhouse heresies might themselves perform this transition: providing fresh support for a generation grappling with headline challenges of climate change and pandemic control.

Sir Owen Woodhouse and the Making of New Zealand Law

2024-03-24T21:20:20+00:00

In the 2022 Sir Owen Woodhouse Memorial Lecture, I considered what it means to make law in New Zealand. Using examples from Sir Owen Woodhouse's illustrious career as a judge and law reformer, I argued that there are important differences in judges' and law reformers' conceptions of "making law". The common law is best seen not as a collection of rules but as a custom as to how to go about recognising what the law is. As a result, it is better to think of what New Zealand judges do as making common law in New Zealand, rather than remaking a New Zealand common law outside pre-existing traditions. The lecture illustrates this point by analysing the Supreme Court's decision in Ellis v R (Continuance), which was decided between the lecture being given in Wellington and its being given in Auckland in October 2022.

Reimagining the Law of the Sea: Evolution or Revolution?

2024-03-24T21:23:02+00:00

This article explores the challenges for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in protecting the marine environment and biodiversity. The traditional approach to developing the law when facing new challenges is through evolution – the iterative amendment of existing instruments and guidelines. I discuss the recent Agreement for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) as an example of the evolution approach. I challenge whether evolution in the law of the sea is sufficient to meet the significant challenges facing regulation of uses of the ocean, and ask whether revolution is needed, through new concepts and processes.

Ubiquity of Legal Pluralism and its Consequences

2024-03-24T21:25:51+00:00

This article is a lightly edited version of the keynote address delivered at the 2023 ICON•S Annual Conference, held at Victoria University of Wellington—Te Herenga Waka, on 5 July 2023. I provide an overview of legal pluralism and its implications, addressing why legal pluralism heretofore has been overlooked by jurists, the historical roots of legal pluralism, how to identify what qualifies as law, internal and external legal pluralism, three categories of law that help frame legal pluralism, why customary law is difficult to incorporate within state law, the implications of legal pluralism for legal development and human rights, and much more.