Hi all,
This isn’t directly related to property investing, so I apologies in advance. I’ve just recently registered a business name and ABN, plus a domain name for my new online business. Being a new business venture, I am concerned about protecting my intellectual property, so currently looking at registering a series of trade marks to protect some or all of the following:
a) Business name
b) Domain name
c) LogoI’m sure many of you own a business or company and would have been faced with similar issues, so I’d appreciate any help. I’ve already attended an introductory seminar on intellectual property held by IP Australia and also studied the IP Australia website (www.ipaustralia.com.au) back to front.
The main things I am not certain on are:
1) Whether or not the words I wish to register are allowed (for obvious reasons, I can’t disclose the phrase in the forum)
2) There already exists a trade mark identical to the one I wish to register which is currently under examination and not yet approved, however the class of registration is different to my line of business. I think I should be able to register the same trade mark in a different class.
3) If I am not able to register the trade mark, what else can I do to protect my IP? It would be a shame to spend all that time and effort setting up the business, then having someone come and take it away from you.
If anyone has had experience in registering a trade mark, I’d be grateful hearing your stories on things such as problems experienced, time taken to register, etc…
I am yet to speak to a Trade Mark/IP Lawyer and plan to do so in the next day or so. If anyone has a lawyer in Melbourne they could recommend, please let me know.
Kind regards,
OziHi Ozi,
Here’s what I have done in the past.
Give it to a solicitor and instruct them to search trademarks, they will tell you what you can and can’t do. Their advice will far outweigh any advice you get here on this forum as it will be directly related to the phrase/logo you want to TM!!
Just curious, why register a business name and not a Pty Ltd company? companys have better protection!
Xenia Ioannou-Mena
Property Manager &
Property Sales Consultant
E: [email protected]
M. 0412 437 582Hi Xenia,
Thanks for your advice. I spoke to a trade mark attorney on Friday and will be speaking to a couple more next week. The said the same thing as you. I will most likely get some searches done to see what they find and recommend.
In regards to setting up a business name instead of a Pty Ltd, my business partner and I didn’t really see any advantage in setting up a company. We consider our line of business (online advertising) low risk, so didn’t think it would be necessary. Plus, setting up and running a business is a lot cheaper and the administration side is also less complex. I guess we could always register a company later on if our circumstances change.
Regards,
OziHi Ozi
I’m a trade mark lawyer and will email you personally, but thought I would take off my property had and put my boring lawyers hat on for a few minutes(!) to post something here as well as I think you’ve raised some really interesting points.
It’s important to realise that registering a business and company name does NOT give you exclusive rights in the name. That is the purpose of a trade mark registration.
Also, just because a name is available to register as a business or company name does not mean that there aren’t others out there using the name or a very similar name, say as a brand name, and there could be issues if they believe your new name has the ability to mislead or deceive consumers into believing that your business is in some way related to theirs.
I’ve seen many people get into difficulties where they have just selected a name that they liked and registered it as a business or company name – and then received legal letters from angry traders who already use the name and have acruded rights in it, whether that trader has a trade mark registration or not (they may have common law rights gained through long term use of the name).
My personal advice for anyone about to register a business or company name is to first consult a trade mark lawyer who will carry out extensive searches both in Australia and in any overseas countries you wish to do business in, to assess the registrability of the name and spot potential issues that may arise from other traders using the same or a similar name.
It is also important to realise that registering a purely descriptive name is extremely difficult unless you can show an extensive reputation gained through long term use of the name (even then it’s very difficult). There are many other names that either can’t be or are difficult to register such as geographical names or those that are likely to offend.
Hope I’m not waffling on here as I try to keep heavy legal stuff away from the public forums – but if this post helps just one person then it will be worthwhile[biggrin] – and of course, feel free anyone to email me personally (no charge!!!)
Thanks for raising this issue as I too am interested in this topic having recently registered a business name and domain name. I too am looking to trademark my logo and name. Appreciate the approach.
KTHi KSG
If you wish to discuss any aspect of applying for your trade marks, just send me a personal email – always glad to offer free assistance to forum members – and maybe save you some lawyers fees!
Hi Housemender,
I appreciate you responding to my post and for providing such terrific advice. That is very generous of you providing your services to the forum.
I am reading your email now and will respond shortly – thank you
Oh, you have already helped one person (me), so I guess your post has been worthwhile [exhappy]
Kind regards,
Ozi
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