What should you do if your former employee has taken your business name or your brand name and has registered it as a trademark in their own name? First, you should let them know that they're not allowed to do that. That's called a bad...
Continue ReadingIf you get your logo created for you on Upwork, or on Fiverr, or one of those sites, or even by a local designer, does that mean that you can register your logo as a trademark? It depends on the terms and conditions and who...
Continue ReadingWhat should you do if you find that somebody is using your registered trademark? First, you should check that your trademark is still valid. Sometimes people think they have a valid trademark, but it's actually lapsed because they've forgotten to pay registration or renewal fees. Second,...
Continue ReadingWhen the time comes to sell your business, who will own your trademark? It depends who currently owns your trademark. Do you have it registered? If you do, whose name is it registered in? Is it in your personal name or Is it in the...
Continue ReadingCan you file a trademark registration which includes a well-known saying? You can file it, but it's unlikely to be granted. For example the saying “keep calm and carry on.” If you've put that into any trademark application, it’s very likely you're not going to...
Continue ReadingSo you want to trade under a particular brand name in Australia, and you've done a trademark search in Australia and you're confident that your use is not going to infringe somebody's trademark in Australia. Does that mean that you should just go ahead and...
Continue ReadingWhat should you do if you've got an incredible brand name, which nobody else has used before and now suddenly because you've been using it, people are popping up all over the place using your brand name. If you've got a unique name, the first...
Continue ReadingSo you have a business name registered, you might even have a domain name registered, or a company name, but does that mean you're safe from trademark infringement? Unfortunately the answer is no. Trademark registration is the superpower of all of the registrations, so it doesn't...
Continue ReadingWhen you file a trademark, should you file it in your personal name, or in the name of your company? If you're a sole trader it doesn't matter, because you don't have a company, but if you do have a company, which is best? Well, the...
Continue ReadingWhat actually is a trademark and how's it different from a brand? How's it different from a logo? What do people mean when they say trademark? Usually when people say trademark, they mean the trademark that is registered on a trademarks register. Trademarks register is run...
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