Trade marks

Are you considering bringing a unique product or service to market that requires some form of branding? A trade mark is a legally enforceable way to protect:

• letters
• numbers
• words
• phrases
• sounds
• smells
• shapes
• logos
• pictures
• aspect of packaging
• any combination of these that distinguishes your product from another.

A registered trade mark under the Trade Marks Act 1995 gives you the exclusive legal right to use, license and sell your intellectual asset in Australia. The owner of a trade mark can apply for its registration. The registration period initially lasts for 10 years and can be continued indefinitely providing that you pay renewal fees.

It's important that you use your trade mark-other applicants can apply to have your trade mark deregistered if you haven't used it for more than three years.

Remember, registration of a business, company or domain name does not give you any proprietary rights to ownership of that name. If you require exclusive use of your business name, you should register it as a trade mark. For further information on business, company and domain names, refer to the IP Australia website.