What is the connection between intellectual property law and social justice? In this episode, law students Dolly Zeng and Kevin Zhang, unpack this question with Dr Fady Aoun, focussing on his article ‘The battle to own racist trade marks and commercial imagery in colonial Australia’. Dr Aoun unpacks the extensive history of stigmatising representations of marginalised groups in branding in Australia (and abroad), and discusses the potential for trade mark law to quell these xenophobic expressions. A fascinating, but troubling, insight into the history of law in Australia.
Dr Fady Aoun is a senior lecturer at Sydney Law School whose research interests include corporations law, intellectual property, trade mark law and theory, and legal history. Dr Aoun’s close and careful analysis of the law concerning registered trade marks subverts the traditional view that trade mark registers are an ‘unmitigated public good’, merely documenting proprietary rights. His work has received international attention, with invitations to present the work in the United States and engagement from pioneering researchers in trade mark and cultural theory.