I have already filed my trade mark but now I want to go overseas. What do I need to know about this?
You 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 I later rely on this and file a US application on 4 April, the date for competing against other filings in the US is 5 January.
To make use of this, you can use the Paris Convention or Madrid Protocol systems. Both of these require that the international applications be filed within 6 months of your original application to get the filing date benefit in the overseas jurisdictions.
It is best to budget for these expenses early as there are fees for each jurisdiction you file in and these are commonly much more than the cost of the original application.
