Trade Marks
What is a registered trade mark?
You may have your business name registered with the Office of Fair Trading. However, that isn’t enough to stop competitors using your brand.Although it is not compulsory, registering a trade mark gives you exclusive rights throughout Australia to use your trade mark for the goods and services described in your trade mark registration. With a registered trade mark, you have legislative rights against others who try to use marks which are similar to yours for similar goods or services.
A trade mark can be a word, phrase, letter, number, sound, smell, shape, logo, picture, aspect of packaging or a combination of these. It is used to distinguish your goods and services from those of other businesses.
What we do
We assess your proposed mark and carry out a search of the trade mark register to advise on your options for registration.We can help you determine the most appropriate class or classes in which to register your goods and services. There are 45 different classes of goods and services (see attached summarised list).
We can then lodge your application (with the filing fee). Applications are examined by IP Australia, to see if they meet the requirements of the Trade Marks Act 1995. It can take up to four months for the application to be examined, though it is possible to apply for expedited examination if there is a reason for urgency.
If your trade mark is accepted for registration, the details of the application will be advertised in the Official Journal of Trade Marks. For 3 months after the advertisement date, anyone who believes that your trade mark should not be registered may oppose its registration.
If no opposition is filed against your application, or if opposition is unsuccessful, your trade mark will be registered when you pay the registration fee.
IP Australia will then send you a Certificate of Registration and record the details of your trade mark in the Register of Trade Marks.
Your trade mark will be registered from the date you filed your application, not from the date it was examined or accepted.
IP Australia fees
We can file your application online with IP Australia to minimise your fees. The fees payable at time of applying for the trade mark are $120 for each class of goods or services, per mark.Registration fees payable within 6 months of acceptance are $250 per class, per trade mark.
Renewing registered trade marks
Trade mark registration must be renewed every ten years.Ask us about international trade mark applications if you intend to bring your brand overseas.
Remember - trade marks are initially assessed on a first come, first served basis, so the sooner yours is filed the better!