Intellectual property (IP) is critical to your business’ success. Therefore, you must protect it adequately. One such way to protect your brand is by registering a trade mark. If your business has multiple goods and services offerings, you might wonder whether you can use a single trade mark for all your goods and services. This […]
Filing a trade mark application with IP Australia can be a costly process. However, the Registrar will only waive fees in part or in full in rare circumstances. Unfortunately, no current regulation allows the Registrar to automatically waive fees for a particular class of persons or business such as a not-for-profit charity. Instead, the Registrar […]
Selecting the appropriate class of goods and services is crucial to gaining adequate protection of your intellectual property. For instance, a registered trade mark only protects some goods and services. However, trade mark protection will only apply to those goods and services you registered it in connection with. Ultimately, whether you include one or more […]
The trade mark process is foreign to many people, particularly those establishing new businesses. You might wonder when the best time to file a trade mark application is. For example, should you file a trade mark application before launching your business? Or should you wait until your business has been up and running for a […]
Your trade mark application can lapse for several reasons. Namely, you may have failed to respond to an adverse report or pay the appropriate fees on time. In any event, a lapsed application means that your application is not valid. Therefore, IP Australia has not registered your application and entered it on the Trade Mark […]
When you are in the middle of trade mark registration, and you think everything is going smoothly, you might be surprised to receive an opposition to your trade mark application. But before you start defending your application, you should get the advice of a trade mark lawyer. An expert trade mark lawyer can advise you on […]
An essential feature of a registered trade mark is its distinctiveness. Distinctiveness means that the trade mark is recognisable and unique enough to identify your brand and the source of your products. For example, the IKEA branding is highly distinctive as you immediately associate the logo with IKEA goods and services. This is important because […]
If you have ever submitted a trade mark application, or have a registered trade mark for your business’ logo already, chances are you are already familiar with the trade mark process. However, as your business grows and evolves, you might be looking to rebrand. This may include amending your logo. In short, it is possible […]
When you begin drafting your trade mark application, you will probably see unfamiliar terms like ‘priority date’. It is essential to understand what a priority date is, whether you register your trade mark nationally or internationally. A trade mark priority date is the date that you filed your trade mark application with IP Australia. This […]