Why trademark searches?

• Don’t be threatened with Court Action because of a missed trademark.
• Don’t waste funds setting up a trading structure or logos before thorough trademark searches.
• Your Trademark Attorney will advise you before problems occur.

It is always what you don’t know about trademarks that will cause problems for you!

Why use a Trademark Attorney? If you get it wrong, then the results could be a disaster:

1. You could be required to cease all use of the name/brand/trademark/logo (including your website and company).
2. You may be asked to pay compensation money for infringement – e.g. $30,000.
3. You could be taken to Court for damage to the trademark owners’  business, or account of profits.

What is registrable as a trademark ® ?

• Generally the following may be registrable: Slogans, catch-phrases, surnames, signatures, brands, logos, company names, business names, domain names, aspects of packaging (e.g. Toblerone box), colours, scents and even shapes.
• In fact, any sign can be registered and enforced as a trademark, provided it is capable of distinguishing your goods and/or services from those of other traders, and it meets all criteria outlined in the Trademarks Act 1995.

How to make money or wealth from a brand, trademark, logo, etc?

• Thorough trademark protection is the first step followed by marketing and developing great standards and reputation.
• How much do you think famous trademarks such as Nike, Rolls-Royce, Mitsubishi, Mars, Wendy’s could fetch?
• To protect these large dollar brands, their Trademark Attorneys constantly file and update their trademark applications, to protect all the angles.
• Earn royalties by licensing use of a registered trademark.
• Franchise use of a registered trademark.

Our experience with trademark applications, trademark searches and the trademark process:

• Many Trademark Applications without proper trademark searches open up the possibility of receiving Court Summons, or are rejected on the basis of a conflict.
• It is 7-9 months to register a trademark, provided there are no objections or oppositions.
• It is dangerous to lodge a trademark application without comprehensive searches, because your application for rights is published and your rivals may be alerted to an infringement.
• It is also dangerous to not check unregistered trademarks before applying through the Trade Marks Office as they do not cover unregistered trademark rights. This means you could be sued under other legislation even if you have a Registered trademark.
• Our upper end searches take approximately 5 hours to complete to provide certainty, and minimise litigation risk and brand problems.

To assist you, we also:

• Advise on brand/trademark/logo conflicts,
• Monitor/track for unauthorised copying of your brand/trademark/logo,
• Handle any trademark infringement for you,
• Oppose trademark applications which are accepted by the Trade Marks Office, and
• Lodge overseas trademark applications (Asia, Europe, United States, etc).

Our Trademark Attorneys look forward to assisting your company or business today.