To set yourself apart from the competition, you need to register your product’s name or logo as a trademark. Trademarks are not the same as domain names or other types of corporate identifiers. However, you can prevent people from using your company name if you register it as a trademark.
Are you considering registering a trademark for your company? So, Here’s the article to help you.
How Do I Get A Trademark In Australia?
It is important to check the Trademark Database to ensure that the mark you intend to register is not currently in use. An Australian trademark is protected for 10 years at first in all Australian jurisdictions. The contract can be renewed for another ten years at the same cost. Your trademark registration can be renewed 12 months before the renewal date or up to 6 months after the renewal date.
Having your trademark registered grants you the sole authority to exploit the mark commercially through licensing and sales. When you register a trade mark in Australia, no one else can legally use it to sell the same goods or provide the same services in the country.
The value of your trademark rises as your company does well, making it a powerful promotional tool. Trademarks (sometimes known as brands) are used to identify a company or product to potential buyers and the general public. For example, your company’s trademark could be:
- logo
- company name
- signage
- packaging, or
- business card.
When you register a trademark in Australia, you gain the legal right to use that mark exclusively within the country. By doing so, you’ll have the legal right to sue any company that uses your trademark to sell products that are confusingly similar to your own.
Trademarks in Australia are registered with Intellectual Property Australia. To accomplish this, do the following:
- Lookup Internet Protocol Check the Australian Trade Marks Database to see whether anyone else has already trademarked your product.
- Make sure you know what kind of trademark you’re filing for and what categories your product or service will fit into. This is where the Founded legal team comes in handy; don’t try to figure this out on your own.
- File for a trademark. Owning a trademark is a business practice open to both people and organizations.
- Now, you must patiently await word on whether or not your application was accepted.
As soon as an application is received, IP Australia begins reviewing it. This can take up to four months from the time of submission. Your application is fantastic, and if it’s accepted, you’re in the clear. Patent and Innovation Australia (IP Australia) will record your trademark in its trade mark registry when it has been published in the Australian Official Journal of Trade Marks. Protecting your trademark for 10 years once it’s registered.
If your application is not accepted, you will be notified through mail. We understand how difficult it might be to have to respond to such a message. Keep in mind that the Founded legal team is here to help you respond to this situation if it ever arises.
Your proposed trademark may be rejected if it lacks distinctiveness or if it is too similar to an existing trademark.
Why Should I Register A Trade Mark?
Trademarks, along with copyrights and patents, are types of intellectual property. Business and legal protection of intellectual property is a subject that can be both nebulous and intricate. The United States officially acknowledges three methods of IP protection: Trademarks, Part I the second copyright and the third patents.
Branding, logos, and other graphical representations of products are all protected under trademark law. Inventions and developments fall within the purview of patent law, while creative works are protected by copyright laws. Each one serves to protect you from having your ideas or creations stolen by others.
The Advantages Of Trademark Registration
When you register a trademark in Australia, your asset receives nationwide protection, and you gain an immediate legal remedy if your valuable property is misused by a third party. If your trademark is registered, the law will presume that any other person using a confusingly similar mark is doing so on purpose.
What If My Business Isn’t Trademarked?
As with most aspects of running a business, much of what you must do as an owner involves reducing potential threats. You want to feel confident that you have complete authority over your trademark portfolio. Infringing on another person’s rights is something you should avoid if at all possible because doing so can result in drawn-out and expensive legal battles.
You should register your trademark as soon as possible for three key reasons:
First, the right to use a trademark belongs to the trademark owner. You may not have the legal right to use your brands, names, and logos unless you register them as trademarks.
The second reason why you should register your trademark is that doing so will protect you from infringing on another party’s trademark if you happen to use or promote their name or logo without permission. It may be illegal to make unauthorized use of a registered trademark belonging to another person (or one that is confusingly similar to that brand).
What this implies is that the trademark holder may demand that you stop using their mark in any way, shape, or form, or else be forced to modify your name or logo. This could have a major impact on your business if you don’t have a strong defence against the charge.
If you consider all you could have put into building your brands, such as products, signage, vehicle signage, uniforms, an online presence, marketing, radio, and television, you can see how devastating and costly a brand redesign could be.
Thirdly, if another company in your field begins using a name that is confusingly similar to yours, you will have very little leverage (if any) to stop them unless you have a registered trademark. Suppose a rival company in a nearby suburb is using a name that sounds a lot like yours.
You might not be able to stop the public from becoming confused about which company is which in the marketplace. If you don’t have a trademark, your ability to prohibit the unauthorized use of your brand by other firms is severely limited, and it can be very impossible to prove and get your case considered in court.
But because of common law and other laws, a trademark that hasn’t been registered can only do so much. If, for example, a business has built a reputation through the unregistered use of a trademark to the point where customers might think they are affiliated with the unregistered trademark user, that business may be able to take legal action to stop others from using the same name.
However, you shouldn’t count on this alone; registering your trademark is the surest approach to gaining the control you need over your ideas.
Differentiating Registered And Unregistered Trademarks
The bottom line is this: if your registered trade mark is being used without your permission, you have the right to take swift legal action under the Trade Marks Act 1995.
In Australia, a claim under Chapter 18 of the Australian Consumer Law is the right way to go to court for trademarks that haven’t been registered. Evidence of “passing off” is required here (another business trying to masquerade as you).
To do this, you must prove that the defendant did things that were deceptive and hurt your goodwill and reputation. In a nutshell, it’s a lot more challenging to defend the reputation of unregistered trademarks.
Feeling the slightest bit lost? Think of marriage and “de facto” status as a way to explain the difference between registered and unregistered trademarks. Although both married and de facto couples are recognized by the law, the married couple enjoys more defined legal protections and benefits.
Conclusion
If your brand is registered as a trademark, it can’t be used without your permission or misrepresented in the market. Since you’ll have the documentation to back up your claim, a registered trademark is a great way to safeguard your brand’s identity.
For more information, click on trademark registration in australia to learn more!