Articles for June 2015

Practical benefits of registering a trade mark in Australia

The rights conferred on an owner of a registered trade mark are more comprehensive than and are in addition to the rights conferred on an owner of an unregistered trade mark.

A registered trade mark will give an owner significant commercial and practical benefits that may not be available to an owner of an unregistered trade mark. Further, registered rights are almost always more easily enforceable against third parties who may be using a trade mark that is deceptively similar to a registered trade mark.

Companies such as Google and Facebook have specifically designed and implemented formal processes enabling an owner of a trade mark to report claims of trade mark infringement.  An owner of a registered trade mark will find it easier to use processes such as these to enforce their rights in a registered trade mark, as opposed to a business owner who relies on rights in an unregistered trade mark.

Another practical benefit of owning a registered trade mark in Australia is that an owner of a registered trade mark is able to formally notify the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (Australian Customs) of its registered mark. Australian Customs is then able, and will seize any counterfeit goods on behalf of the owner of the registered trade mark before these counterfeit goods are brought into Australia. This service is provided by Australian Customs to owners of registered trade marks at no cost. However, this service is not available to an owner of an unregistered trade mark.