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Facts
About Trademarks!
In recent
years Intellectual Property, specifically trademarks, has been
brought into the limelight by television coverage of some famous
trademark cases. It is only now that business owners are realising
the importance of protecting their Intellectual Property, which
includes their business names, company logos and
slogans.
It is
often assumed that business name registration in your state or
territory will give you adequate protection, so that someone else
cannot use the same name or logo. This is not the case. Only by
registering your business or company name and corporate logo as a
trademark will you be protected.
There is
no such thing as a World-Wide Trademark. Trademarks are
registered country by country. Also, in Australia, there is
no such thing as a State Trademark.
You do
not have to be a Trademark Attorney or a Trademark Solicitor
to file a trademark application in Australia, or handle
correspondence the government office may issue.
A
trademark will take a minimum of 7 months to become fully
registered. It lasts for a period of 10 years, once it becomes
registered. After this 10 year period, you do not need to
're-register' your trademark. You can simply renew it.
The ™
symbol generally means 'trademark pending'. You are allowed to use
this symbol whilst your trademark is being examined, up until the
point that it becomes registered. Once you trademark becomes fully
registered, you may then change this symbol to an ® which will
indicate that you have a fully registered trademark.
You must
not
use
the ® symbol until your trademark is fully registered. It is a
federal offence to use the ® symbol without trademark registration.
If your mark is registered in another country, and you use it in
Australia, you must include reference to the
country.
You may,
however, continue to use the ™ symbol once your trademark is fully
registered. Some companies do not like the look of the ® symbol and
would prefer to continue using the ™ symbol.
The ©
symbol is used in relation to copyright only. Copyright is
automatic and is generally applied to 'extensive work', such as
stories, song lyrics, artwork etc... Contact us if you would like more
information about copyright.
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