Protect Your Business With a Trademark

When you start a business, you often don’t think about trademark protection, design registrations and the list goes on.

But what happens when you start a small business, choose a catchy name and begin trading only to get a legal letter in six months time demanding you stop trading? Or worse still, you named a product using someone else’s trademark and they demand a portion of the profits you have made for the last 6 months!?

Ouch!

Don’t get caught out. Plan a little bit. Choose your business name and your product names carefully. You want to find a name that isn’t trademarked (or if it is trademarked, not in your business area).

The best place to start (in Australia) is http://ipaustralia.gov.au

Here you can log in for free and start searching. Keep in mind though, even if you want the trademark ‘widget’, because it is a name you will apply to your brand of sausage, and someone else has already trademarked the name ‘widget’ for a brand of soap there is a good chance you will be able to trademark it for your product type.

You can also use the Ip Australia website to register your trademark using their online process.

Here are some more resources on trademarks and protecting your business:

• Trademarks: the cornerstone of protecting your brand
• The Australian Made trademark
• Register your trademark (business.gov.au)

Have fun reading about some industry trademark disputes here!