The process of registering your trade mark in Australia starts with an application lodged with IP Australia. Care should be taken to make sure that your trade mark application meets the following basic criteria for registration:
a) Distinctiveness – your trade mark must be distinctive in relation to the goods and services which you plan to register. The trade mark application must be distinctive and different enough to prevent 3rd parties innocently using your trade mark without knowing. For example: attempting to register the word BANANAS in relation to BANANAS.
b) Must not be prior used or registered by a 3rd Party in relation to closely related goods and services – To confirm this it is highly recommended that you conduct a Google search and a search of the Australian Trade Mark Register before filing your trade mark application
Once you believe that your trade mark meets these basic requirements, you will need to draft a specification of goods and services. This specification will limit the scope of the trade mark protection to your actual field of use as described in the specification. Preferably, you need to limit the goods and services to products and services are currently delivering or plan to deliver under the trade mark.
Your application can then be filed in Australia through the Australian Trade Mark Office (also known as IP Australia). Once filed, the ordinary trade mark applications are typically examined within 4-6 weeks of filing. IP Australia checks to determine whether you trade mark meets the above requirements and will reject the application if you can not overcome their objections within the allotted time frame.
Once your trade mark application has been accepted, your application will open to 3rd party opposition for a period of 2 months. After this time, you need to pay a further registration fee.
The trade mark application is then registered and lasts indefinitely so long as you pay a renewal fee every 10 years.
Alder IP can assist you with filing and prosecuting your trade mark application. We can also help in selecting how to present your trade mark application in the best light to get the optimal results from registration. We are also experienced at overcoming examiner’s objections and provision of general strategic advice about branding.