Frequently Asked Questions

Firstly, and most importantly, a trademark is an Intellectual Property Right. A trademark is a sign or a ‘mark’ used to differentiate your business from others in the marketplace who provide goods or services similar to yours. The most common types of trademarks are brand names, logos or distinctive phrases.

In the footer below we offer a short video ‘What is a trademark?’

A trademark protects your brand and can distinguish your product or service from your competitors. Trademarks are not only words or logos but can be anything else that identifies your with business.

Our Founder CEO, Mark Davis LLM, provides his experiences and knowledge, and is the author of our Trademark Availability Reports (TAR). Mark will search and report on data indices relative to trademarks, such as IP Australia database, the WIPO Global Brand database, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission and other internet name activities or events.

The TAR is generally 4 to 6 pages and is a service priced at A$125, which is considered by many as a safety net to paying the full fee for a trademark without committing to this due diligence. See an example of our Trademark Availability Reports here…

We find that most of our customers opt-in to the TAR. For our registered Members fifty percent (50%) of the A$125 (A$62.50) is redeemable from the full fee for the trademark registration application should you decide to use immagine™ for the registration application.

The outcome of the TAR identifies if your trademark registration application is less or more likely to receive a positive assessment from the Examiner at IP Australia before paying full fees.

immagine Founder CEO, Mark Davis, has worked within the legal framework in Australia and other countries for many decades.

Mark holds an LLM (Applied Laws), LLM (Commercial Laws), a Practising Certificate in Advanced Arbitration, an MSc (Business Intelligence) and Intellectual Property Rights in a Juris Doctor. Mark now concentrates his business knowledge and experience on immagine and is determined to give you safe and secure business services. Mark is more than happy to discuss the complexities of trademarking with clients directly on (+61) 0414 060 044.

If your trademark is registered, you'll receive these important protections:

• A business asset which becomes more valuable as your business becomes more successful;

• Exclusive rights to use your trademark in Australia for an initial term of 10 years, with the ability to renew this protection indefinitely;

• The ability to legally deter others from using your trademark;

• The ability to sell or license your trademark to others;

• The legal right to place the registered trademark symbol ® next to your trademark.

When we apply for a trademark on your behalf we need to inform the Australian Government Regulator (IP Australia) what type (Goods/Services classification) of trademark best suits your industry.

There are different types of trademarks depending on the elements of the brand you're looking to protect. These include Colours, Logos or figurative, Moving images, non-English words, Scents, Shapes, Sounds and a Word or phrase. See video in footer - What is a Trademark?

If you run a business in Australia and do not trade under your name, you will need to register your business name with the Australian

Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). However, this will not stop others from using a similar business name. If you want

exclusive rights to your business name to protect your products or services, you need to register a trademark. The reverse

is also true, that is, having a registered business name does not necessarily mean that you will be successful in applying for a

trademark registration.

immagine uses the Madrid System to apply for trademarks outside of Australia. Why? The Madrid System is a tool offered by the Australian Government through IP Australia and coordinated by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Using these government bodies offers transparency and security, and gives immagine the ability to apply for your trademark in several countries, such as Europe, in the one application, therefore saving you time and money.

Apart from deciding on your trademark word or logo, choosing the goods and/or services classification requires some thought and is extremely important to determine the most appropriate protection for your trade asset. To get this aspect of your trademark right, immagine will work with you and suggest the most appropriate trademark goods and/or services in our Trademark Availability Report. Trademarks give you legal rights specific to the goods and services you provide to your customers.

This informs the scope of your protection and allows you to take action against others using your trademark on similar goods and services.

After immagine lodges your application, a trademark Examiner will conduct an examination of the trademark application.

If there are no issues, your trademark is advertised in the Australian Trade Mark Register as accepted. You can continue to use your trademark during this time, though there is a small risk of it being challenged. Anyone may oppose your trademark within two months of it being advertised. In 2021, less than 5% of all applications to IP Australia were opposed. One reason this may happen is if your trademark is too similar to someone else's trademark.

The short answer here is YES. A trademark registered in Australia can only be used in Australia. However, we offer a Global Registration service for customers residing in Australia who wish to register trademarks in another county. Although, a Trademark Registration Applications needs to be submitted to IP Australia before it can be registered offshore.