If you have a successful business, chances are you've got a lot more going for you than just your product. There are probably other elements, tangentially related to your product, that make your brand popular and help you bring in profits. These might include logos, slogans or any other aspect of what you sell that customers have come to appreciate.
If you've already patented your core product, shouldn't you have protections on the other elements of your business, too?
So why not protect that intellectual property? If you've already gone to the trouble of patenting your core product, shouldn't you have legal protections on the other elements of your business, too?
Luckily, that's what a trade mark can do for you. It might be time to consider applying for one.
How you can use trade marks
The process of trade mark registration in Australia is a fairly flexible one, and you can use it to protect all different types of intellectual property that are important to your business. According to the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, a trade mark is a way of distinguishing your goods or services from those of other businesses. Anything that's unique about your organisation is worth trade marking.
This might include words, phrases, sounds, smells, pictures, shapes – anything you can name. Even the style of packaging you use on your product might merit a trade mark. It's worth being aggressive about this, because the profit potential of your business may be at stake.
The application process is easy
The way intellectual property law is currently constituted in Australia, the process of applying for a new trade mark is fairly simple. If you go through us, the application process is relatively quick and the fees involved are modest.
Before you apply, though, it's important to thoroughly evaluate what classes of goods or services are worth trade marking. It's very difficult to go back and make changes to your application after it's already been filed, so you want to claim your IP rights correctly on the first try.
Do you need professional advice?
It's relatively easy to apply for IP protections in Australia. But if you go through say, IP Australia, the government won't be able to give you personalised advice on your business and its trade mark applications. So what do you do if you need a little guidance?
We'd recommend a quick call to Alder IP. Once you get in touch with us, you can talk to a trade mark attorney in Sydney and get answers to all the questions on your mind.