A properly registered trade mark will help distinguish your goods or service from others and ensures no one can use it without your permission anywhere within Australia. It is useful to understand that there are different types of trademarks, namely: words, names, colors, devices, slogans, certain three-dimensional shapes, sounds, scents, holograms, trade dress, taste, and touch. However, don’t let this broad list confuse you as most business trade mark either their name, their logo or a combination of the two.
Here are the 5 steps to getting your trade mark in Australia.
-
Make a decision on your trademark:
Before you apply to get a trademark in Australia, you should be sure of what you aim to trademark. Making a wrong choice when getting a trademark will be very costly as government fees are not refundable, but more importantly, you may go years not knowing you protected the wrong part of your brand. Therefore, this is the stage you ensure that you have clearly defined what trademark you want to get. Is it a name, logo, or a bit of both?
-
Understand the goods and services:
When getting a trademark name, you must provide a list of goods and services for which you will be using your trademark on. These goods and services need to be listed in one or more different classes. The Trade Marks Classification Search helps you with the correct classification of goods and services for your trade mark.
-
Search for earlier trademarks:
Before you get a trademark in Australia, it is important that you perform a detailed search to make sure there are no similar trademarks that are already registered. It is wise to search as widely as possible. Searching is a tedious process as it requires skill and persistence as just searching only for an identical mark will not provide meaningful results. Here are some useful tools that can help in the search process: Australian trade mark search and trade marks image viewer
-
Apply to get a trademark:
Now it time to make your application. At this point you should be ready with all the required information including the classes of goods and services for which you intend to cover with your trademark. Once a trademark is submitted, only minimal changes can be made.
-
Pass government examination:
Trade marks are examined by the government to ensure they are acceptable. It will normally take you three to four months for your trade mark application to be examined by the Australian government once submitted. If your trade mark application is accepted you will be notified in writing. Your trade mark will then be advertised as ‘accepted’. It then goes through a two month advertising phase where it is open for opposition. After that, if there are no oppositions or reasons to revoke the trade then your trademark will be registered.
We have a dedicated FAQ section where we answer your questions on getting a trademark. We are always able to answer any email inquiries you send if you need any further help.
At Trademarkings, we help our clients get a trademark registered in Australia, New Zealand and United States.
Need some advice on this?
If you need some more advice in your particualr case, we offer a free initial consultation.