Trademarks
A trademark will protect the recognizable aspects of your business, such as a word, a phrase, sound, smell, logo, picture, an aspect of packaging or a combination of these.
A trademark signifies that products or services come from a particular person or company and differentiates your business, product or service from your competitors.
What types of things can have a trademark?
- Your business or product name eg Apple, IBM,
- Logo or brand symbol
- Catch phrase or slogan
- Shape as in Toblerone chocolate
- Colour as in Cadbury’s purple
- Sound associated with your brand eg Harley Davison
Freedom To Operate
Of vital importance to any business in Australia is to have a business name
that you can use in the marketplace.
Just because you can register a business name with ASIC it doesn’t give you any rights to use that name.
The only protection for your business or product name is to trademark it.
If you start trading under a non trademarked name, you could be infringing on someone else’s trademark and they can sue you for it and request you to cease trading.
If someone else registers your business or product name as a trademark , even though you may have strong rights to that name, the costs of fighting that and keeping your name could run into the $$$$K.
Benefits of Having Trademarks
- You own the name throughout Australia and it cannot be used by anyone else in your industry
- Your trademarks have value and can be sold.
- It cannot be ‘stolen’ or ‘copied’.
- A trademark ideally should be registered in any country that you have a business interest in.
What Should You Trademark?
- Your Business Name
- Your Company Name
- Your Company slogan
- Your Product Name
- Your Domain Name
- Any other unique and distinguishing features of your product or service
Some trademarks we have secured for our clients.
We can assist you with your trademark registration.
Call us today
We can help with looking after all your trademark needs including trademarking in New Zealand and other countries where you need trademark protection.