Legal and intellectual Property

Copyright is also an important aspect of IP and it is important to ensure that you own copyright in everything that you create or what your designer creates. Copyright protects artistic works such as graphic designs and photographs and literary works such as training materials and books and other works such as music.

Finally, it is also important to ensure that you’re meeting and labelling complies with the law both from a misleading conduct perspective and other regulatory requirements.

Broadly speaking, IP is property of the mind – the outcome of your creative endeavours. That can be copyright, branding and designs such as the visual appearance of a product.

Given that IP is an important part of your business, it comes as no surprise that IP has been described as the oil of the 21^st Century. For example, it is your brand that will give you a competitive edge and makes you stand out from the crown.

Why Trademark?

Trade mark registration gives you amazing benefits including:

• You get the exclusive right to use the trade mark in Australia for the goods or services for which you have registered it (subject to some exceptions such as someone else having had honest concurrent or prior continuous use).
• Once your trade mark becomes registered, you can use the “®” symbol to show other traders your company owns the trade mark(s) therefore reducing the risk that others will infringe your trade mark.
• A trade mark is a valuable asset that can be licensed to others and sold;
• The details of a trade mark registration are on the public record so third parties who search the register are more likely to be deterred from adopting it or a similar mark;
• Trade mark registration is a complete defence to any claim of trade mark infringement brought by another trade mark owner;
• If another person infringes your trade mark then having a trade mark registration makes it much easier to enforce your rights against them;
• Unlike a business name registration, registered trade mark rights are Australia-wide; and
• A trade mark registration can be renewed every ten years so is potentially perpetual.