Easy Trademarks

Wondering what the benefits of a trademark might be?

A trademark is more than just a novel ® symbol that you can attach to your business name. Capable of being applied to a logo, word, or image, it’s a legal form of protection against your company’s branding.

If you’re considering registering a trademark but find yourself caught wondering what the benefits of a trademark are – you’ve come to right place.

There are numerous benefits of registering a trademark in Australia. Not only for the protection of your business’ identity and product or service, but for long term value adding too.

We’ll explore the key benefits of trademark registration below.

Added Value to Your Company

One of the major commercial benefits of registering a trademark is the value it adds to the business. Upfront it adds a sense of legitimacy to your branding. But beyond that, it quickly turns your brand or element into a valuable asset. You can sell, license or even franchise this asset .

Once you’ve generated a substantial brand awareness you can leverage off this to sell your trademark to others. Essentially, as your product or service grows in recognition, so too does the value of your trademark.

To give an indication of just how valuable this ownership can be, Amazon’s 2021 brand value stood at US$683.85 billion.

You don’t need to completely hand off your branding to capitalise on your trademark either. A registered trademark can be licensed for use to a third party. This can introduce your business to new markets, while distributing workload through partnerships or franchises. This makes trademarking particularly important if expansion is on the cards for your business.

Protection from Unauthorised Use

When it comes to protecting your brand against copycats and misuse, a trademark is the most reliable option. The ability to take legal action with ease against others attempting to use your trademark is one of the top benefits of a trademark.

In the cutthroat business world, its not uncommon for competitors to attempt to leverage of an already established brand. Should this happen, your trademark ownership offers you the right to pursue legal action against competitors and other businesses infringing on your trademark.

Unlike unregistered trademark owners, you can do so without having to prove your business reputation, or the misrepresentation and deception of the infringer.

Similarly, your trademark ownership means will prevent any other business from being able to trademark a similar or identical element.

On the whole, the overarching benefit of registering a trademark is the ease and affordability offered to protecting your brand.

Long Term Protection Australia Wide

Once your trademark is registered in Australia, you will have ownership of it Australia-wide for 10 years, and then can renew it every 10 years. This extensive protection offers long-term peace of mind over the branding that you’ve worked so hard to devise. (You can also obtain trademark protection in other countries too.)

On the other hand, those attempting to challenge the use of an unregistered trademark will need to prove their business reputation in each region of Australia in which it wants the infringer stopped. You can’t sue for trademark infringement under the Trade Marks Act without a registered trademark.

There is also a deterrent factor. If you have a registered trademark, then it appears on the Trade Marks Register. This gives notice to the world of your trademark. Businesses should search the Trade Marks Register before launching a new brand — and so your registration will give notice to other businesses not to choose a brand that is similar to your brand.

When exploring ways to protect your company’s brand, you may ask yourself: what is a trademark?

A trademark identifies your product or service to the public. It can be anything from a word to a symbol or logo, and even a sound or colour. A good trademark offers brand protection over the reputation and goodwill of your business.

When someone sees your trademark, they should think of your business and your products. For example, if you see a sign on the side of the road for a business where the sign has a yellow shell or a golden arch, you know immediately what that business does. A good trademark is something that brings your business to mind and uniquely identifies your business.

A trademark can be an efficient way to tell customers about the quality and characteristics of your products. If I told you I ride a Harley-Davidson and shop at Armani, you would get a different impression of me than if I told you I drove a VW and shopped at City Beach. These trademarks carry a lot of information about the type and quality of the products.

A trademark is also a form of intellectual property. But the only way to obtain a trademark is by having it registered. An unregistered trademark gives you no trademark protection, and you can’t enforce your trademark under the Trade Marks Act unless it is registered.

Once registered, the trademark is protected. You can then use the registration to prevent others from offering similar goods & services under the same or similar brand. A registration also creates an asset that can be licenced and sold.

Once you own a registered trademark, the registration can last forever. Each registration is for 10 years but it can be renewed every 10 years.

What Can Be Trademarked?

You can trademark just about anything that physically distinguishes your brand from another. This includes letters, fonts, words, brands, names, signatures, logos, slogans, labels, packaging, shapes, colours, sounds, and even scents.

Examples of recognised trademarks are the:

‘Tiffany Blue’ colour of New York jewellery icon Tiffany & Co
Elaborate Spencerian script logo made famous by Coca-Cola

You have probably encountered a number of obscure branding elements that you may not even realise are trademarked. The signature ‘duhn-duhn’ tune of Law & Order is a registered trademark, as is Hasbro’s nostalgic Play-Doh scent.

What Can’t Be Trademarked?

If the sign you are trying to register uses commonly-used descriptive terms, phrases or images, you will find it difficult to secure a trademark. Basically – your desired trademark must not use elements which are widely characteristic of the goods and services in which you trade.

For example, an air conditioning company would be unable to register the word ‘cool’ as it is used broadly throughout the industry. A hairdresser in St Kilda could not register ‘St Kilda Hairdresser’ because other hairdressers in St Kilda will also want to tell customers that they are located in St Kilda.

The ideology behind this is that trademarks should be specific to a company’s branding, or goods and services, not their industry.

The trademark must be unique. You can’t register or use a trademark that someone else has trademarked for similar goods or services. It would not be a good idea to call your new business Disney or Google (or similar)!

The Registration Process

By owning the exclusive rights to a trademark, it is easier to take legal action to prevent others using it. On top of this, it can become a valuable asset to sold, licensed or franchised down the track.

It’s important to recognise that you only have ownership over the registered trademark within the sector in which it is registered. For example, Tiffany & Co owns the rights to the Tiffany Blue colour within the jewellery sector. However, they can’t stop a homeowner for painting their house in the same tone.

Before you even begin an application, you’ll need to ensure your element isn’t already registered. This can be done with a search through the Australian Trade Mark Online Search System.

Once you’ve confirmed you’re in the clear then it it’s usually best to call on the help of some expert intellectual property lawyers. They’ll be best placed to guide you through the process.