[embed]https://youtu.be/kns9tWxjmkU[/embed] Trademark trouble is bound to find you at some stage if you don't have your name registered as a trademark. This is your brand name, or your business name. Just this week I saw a client, who is a business coach, an amazing lady, giving...
Continue ReadingYou can use your original Australian or New Zealand trade mark application to lodge international applications in other jurisdictions that have the same filing date as your original application’s date. So, for example, If I have a filing date in Australia of 5 January and...
Continue ReadingIt is a difficult call to make on whether to register in only one or multiple classes at the outset because funds can be tight. The danger of not registering it in all classes is that if a competitor tries to register the same or...
Continue ReadingA registered trade mark does important things for your business. Two of these are: It prevents others from infringing your brand; and It can be used as an absolute defence against some else alleging that you infringe their registered Trade Mark. Most...
Continue ReadingTrade marks can refer to registered or unregistered trade marks. When I refer to trade marks in this book, I am mostly referring to registered trade marks. Unregistered trade marks have many disadvantages, as set out later in this book. The main one being that a...
Continue ReadingFrom 10 October 2016, the IP Australia official fees are changing. The Trade mark registration fee is being reduced to zero from $300 per class, while the trade mark application fee increases from $120 to $250 per class. This is still a saving of $170...
Continue ReadingA domain name is a URL or website address. Domain names usually fall into two different categories, either: descriptive of the business that owns the domain name, or consisting of a trade mark/trading name/company name/business name belonging to the business. Some businesses opt for both types of domain...
Continue ReadingSelecting a company or product name can be very important for a business. This is the name by which customer’s will get to know you. This is the name they will look up in the yellow pages when they want to locate you. And if...
Continue ReadingJust because it is your own name, does not mean that you are entitled to trade under it (even if you have it registered as a company name, a domain name and an Australian business name). If someone else registers your name as a trade...
Continue ReadingThe case of, REA Group Ltd v Real Estate 1 Ltd [2013] FCA 559 (7 June 2013), has indicated that registering even a descriptive domain name incorporating a logo, can result in a very powerful trademark protection. Read the full decision here. It has always been...
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