Trademark Your Business Name

The Hurdles of Trademark Applications

To start with, you have to place your business in one of 45 goods and services classes defined by IP Australia – the Australian Government agency that administers intellectual property rights in our country. For some trademarks, more than one class may apply – this is where it gets complicated.

Assuming you get it right with the classes, next step would be to identify what type of a trademark you want to apply for.

For example, is it a:

• word
• phrase
• number
• image or artwork
• logo
• sound
• shape
• colour

This is not an exhaustive list – there are more trademark types and combinations of types.

To succeed with a trademark application, IP Australia requires applicants to provide clear, exact definitions and specifications of a trademark they wish to register. The Government agency leaves no room for ambiguities and vague descriptions.

Fail to comply with strict guidelines – you can kiss goodbye to your trademark.

This is why roughly every second trademark application filed by a business owner on their own fails – the process is cumbersome and requires in-depth knowledge of Intellectual Property Law coupled with extensive experience in Business and Commercial Law.

This Is Where Rouse Lawyers Comes In

We’ll spare you the spiel about how great we are. Let’s just say we’ve been practicing Intellectual Property Law for over 15 years and have filed dozens of trademark applications for our clients.

None of them have ever been disappointed with our work.

We know what we’re doing and we value our reputation in business community – we go an extra mile for each client to hit the target they aim for.

Our Intellectual Property lawyers love and enjoy successful outcomes of their work and when they win – you win.

For us, it’s more than work. For us, winning small or big is what really counts.

What Rouse Lawyers Will Do For You

When you engage us to register your trademark, we will:

• provide you with the Trademark Search Report
• advice you on the best Application Drafting Strategy unique to your business
• initiate Trademark Application on your behalf
• secure Legal Ownership of your trademark
• assign a Trademark Lawyer to your account at Rouse Lawyers
• give you legal guidance on trademark infringement and protection

Why Rouse Lawyers?

Three things:

1. Fee certainty
2. Competence
3. In-house counsel

Fee Certainty

We set ourselves apart from the pack by offering our clients a strict No Surprises Fee Policy.

What it means in practice is – you’ll never be charged anything you didn’t expect to be charged when we gave you a quote. Period.

We stick to our end of the deal every time.

Competence

We’re not large in numbers but what we’ve got at our disposal are some of the best legal minds around.

Give us a call to find out what we mean.

In-house Counsel

In short – we don’t outsource trademarking work to so-called trademark specialists who process trademark applications in huge numbers without any consideration of how unique and important each application is.

With Rouse Lawyers, you’re dealing with professionals who value each client and their own reputation. We simply can not afford such practices from the business point of view no matter how profitable it might be for others.

When we say “we’ll look after you” – we mean it.

Literally.

What Our Clients Say About Us

Generally, most people can’t be bothered to spend their time on leaving a review for a business they dealt with. When they do, it means someone impressed them enough to go out of their way and leave a review on a public forum.

This is the latest reviews our clients left on Google My Business review service:

Justin Lin:

Our lawyer Mr Roy Kim has been the best lawyer I have come across. He is very professional, efficient and effective. He has helped me and my business many times through some of the most difficult legal matters and achieved fantastic outcomes that were much better than what I could imagine! I have no hesitation to recommend him. Well done Roy! Keep up the great work !!

Ellie Healan:

Matthew did such a great job of putting our agreements together. He asked all the right questions and seemed to very easily understand our brief. He was quick to get hold of and prompt with answering all of our (many!) questions. Thank you Matthew for making what is normally a difficult process so easy!

Jenny Gibson:

Just finished my third business purchase with Rouse Lawyers and I would have no hesitation returning for any further legal needs. They are a wonderful combination of both friendly and professional and are always prompt to address any issues throughout the process. Peter and Roy worked exceptionally hard to ensure the purchase ran smoothly for me and I would recommend them to anyone needing legal assistance.

Questions You Might Have About Trademarking Your Business Name

Why Register a Trademark?

• When you register a trademark, you’ll have an exclusive right to use it in Australia, and potentially in other international jurisdictions, as a unique representation of your business.
• Armed with a trademark, you’ll be able to take legal action against anyone who infringes your exclusive right to use it. Simply put, trademarking protects your brand and the goodwill associated with it.
• You’ll be able to license the use of your trademark to someone else. Speaking of infringement, when you register a trademark, you ensure that you don’t infringe someone else’s trademark by accident.
• Trademarking saves you from running into expensive legal trouble even if you didn’t mean to harm anyone.
• Trademark is a powerful and effective marketing tool.

How Long Will the Application Process Take?

1. After the initial consultation, we’ll tell you within 5 working days whether or not your trademark application is likely to succeed.
2. If it is and you give us instructions to proceed, we’ll submit the application to the government for review.
3. The review process is standard for all applications and takes about 6 months to process.
4. Once the government registers your trademark, you’ll receive your trademark certificate and from that point on you’re the exclusive owner of the trademark for 10 years. You won’t have to register your trademark again after 10 years – simply pay the renewal fee and the trademark is still yours.

Have a Question About Trademarks? Ask a Lawyer

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