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Register a trade mark to protect your brand

Registering your business name isn't the same as owning it.

Registering a business name gives you the right to trade under it. It does not stop anyone else using it, and neither does owning the domain. A registered trade mark is the only one of the three that gives you an exclusive right you can enforce. Getting it means clearing the register first, choosing the right classes, and answering whatever the examiner raises, and we see that through to registration.

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An exclusive right, not just a name

Registration gives you something you can enforce, rather than a reputation you have to prove each time.

The classes chosen deliberately

The classes are the boundary of the right, and widening them later means starting a new application.

Protection dated from filing

Your rights run from the day the application is lodged, not the day it is finally registered.

What does registering a trade mark actually give you?

A trade mark is the sign your customers use to tell your business apart from every other one: a name, a logo, a shape, sometimes a sound. Registering it under the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth) (the Act) gives you the exclusive right to use that sign for the goods and services you registered it for, and the right to stop others using something deceptively similar. Registration runs for ten years from the filing date and can be renewed indefinitely. Without it you are not without rights, but you have to prove your reputation every time you rely on them.

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How long does it take to register a trade mark in Australia?

Expect around seven to twelve months if nothing goes wrong. The application is examined a few months after filing, and if accepted there is a two-month window in which anyone can oppose it. Your protection dates back to the filing date, so the wait costs you no priority.

What can I register as a trade mark?

A word, a name, a logo, a shape, a colour, even a sound, as long as it distinguishes your goods or services from everyone else’s. What you generally cannot register is a sign that simply describes what you sell, because other traders need those words too.

Is my business name or domain name already protected?

No. Registering a business name lets you trade under it, and a domain lets you use the address. Neither gives you the right to stop someone else using a similar name, and a registered trade mark is the one that does.

What happens if someone opposes my application?

Opposition is a formal process with evidence and deadlines, usually brought by someone who thinks your mark is too close to theirs. Many oppositions settle once the parties agree limits on the goods or services each will use. We will tell you early whether your mark is likely to attract one.

Not sure whether your brand is registrable?

Send us the name or the logo and tell us what you sell. We will search the register and tell you what is already there, before you spend anything on an application.

You have spent years teaching people your name

Your customers know your brand, and nothing on any register says it is yours. A competitor can adopt something close enough to trade on what you have built, and your first real chance to find out is when they do it. What makes this hard to act on is that nothing is going wrong today, so registering feels optional right up until the moment it isn’t.

We will search the register and tell you whether your mark is likely to be accepted.
We will choose the classes against what you actually sell.
We will prepare and file the application.
We will respond to the examiner and handle any opposition through to registration.

The name works, and that is exactly why someone else will want it

You started with a name you liked and a logo someone put together, and neither was a legal decision at the time. Years later the name is on your invoices, your vehicles, your packaging and in the heads of everyone who has bought from you. Somebody suggests you should register it, and when you look, the register is a more crowded place than you expected. Now you need to know whether the brand you have used all along is one you can actually claim.

What's included in your trade mark registration service

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A search of the register for identical and deceptively similar marks.
An assessment of whether your mark is distinctive enough to register.
Selection of the goods and services classes that match your business.
Preparation and filing of the application.
Responses to examination reports and to any opposition.

The register rewards whoever gets there first

Australia runs a first to file system, so the person who applies first generally wins, whether or not they were first to use the name. If someone registers a mark close to yours in the classes that matter, you can be the one asked to stop. That means the signage, the packaging, the domain and the social accounts, explained to customers who only know you by the old name. Filing late is not the only way to lose. An application in the wrong classes protects goods you don’t sell and leaves the ones you do sell open, and a mark that merely describes what you do is refused for not being distinctive. Each of those is decided before you file rather than after.

How your brand becomes something you own

We start on the register rather than on the form. A search tells you what is already there, how close it is, and whether your mark is distinctive enough to be accepted. That is the question deciding whether an application is worth making at all. Then we pick the classes against what you actually sell and plan to sell, because the classes are the boundary of the right, and widening them later means a new application. We file, answer the examiner and deal with any opposition. You end up with an asset on a public register, dated from the day you filed, that you can licence, sell, or use to make someone stop.

How a trade mark application runs

Search first, file once, and pick the classes deliberately.

Search the register

We check what is already registered, how close it is to yours, and whether your mark is distinctive enough to be accepted.

File the application

We choose the classes against what you actually sell, then prepare and file. That date is what your protection runs from.

See it through

We answer the examiner's report, deal with any opposition, and take the mark through to registration.

Your brand assessed against the register before you spend anything on it

Most people find out their brand isn’t theirs at the worst possible moment, which is when somebody else asserts it. Until then a business name registration and a domain feel like ownership, and there is nothing in either of them that says otherwise.

We have 2 Accredited Specialists in Business Law. We are ISO 9001 accredited as well, so what happens on your file, and when you hear about it, are defined rather than assumed.

Our great lawyer guarantee

Six principles we hold to, whatever you bring us and however long it takes.

Take the time

We listen carefully to understand what you want to achieve, then step you through the advice and the documents.

Share our knowledge

We pass on as much as we can, so you can make your own informed decisions.

Stick to our knitting

We only do what we are good at, so you never pay for our learning.

Work as one team

Someone is always available to answer your question or point you the right way.

Fair pricing

A fixed or capped quote for advice and documents, so you do not carry the price risk.

It is your show

We are in it for a front row seat to witness your success, not for our egos.

Find out whether your brand is yours

Tell us the name or send us the logo, and what you sell under it. We will search the register and tell you what can be registered and what it will take.

Speak to a lawyer 1300 654 590