A trade mark can be a strong mechanism of protection for an invention or a product. This can be especially useful in cases where patent protection is not possible or otherwise difficult. A product can be branded with a name or logo. Even the shape of a product can be...
I often get asked about the difference in Australia between a trade mark attorney and a trade mark lawyer. In Australia, a trade mark attorney is a separate profession to that of a lawyer or a ‘trade mark lawyer’. While both professions are legal entitled to work in...
Trade marks are registered on a country-by-country basis. This means that you need to apply for trade mark protection in each country you seek to protect your trade mark. This takes money and effort. For this reason, it is usually better to focus on only those...
There is no single worldwide trade mark registration. You will need to apply to each country in which you would like to have a registered trade mark. Even for large companies, this task can prove too cumbersome and expensive. Therefore, the pragmatic route is to...
The Professional Standards Board for Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys (the PSB), which is the government body charged with regulating our profession, has recently undertaken a major review of its Code of Conduct for attorneys. The new Code, which is to come into...
Clients often instruct us to file their trademark in the United States, and because the fees are relatively low and a US trademark provides coverage over a huge market, the benefit of doing so is clear. The process we usually advise is to file for the Australian...