What is a Trademark?

Trademarks perform a specific branding function: they distinguish the goods or services of one trader from those provided by its competitors. In this article, we look at the role played by trademarks, and provide some real world examples of different types of trademarks which have been registered in Australia.

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Search in the Right Places

When you’re looking for something, it seems obvious to say that you need to look in all the right places. The same is true of trademark searches, where (whether you’re searching for yourself, or are paying someone else to search for you) you need to make sure that all of the correct databases are being searched. You should never be afraid to ask questions about the extent of paid searches, and this article gives you an idea of what questions to ask.

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Don’t Ignore the Market Place

Registering a trademark is by far the easiest way to protect your brand. However, it is possible to acquire certain unregistered rights by merely using a brand in the market place over time. These rights include the right to prevent others from registering ‘substantially identical’ or ‘deceptively similar’ marks, and a right to sue unregistered trademark owners for something called ‘passing off’.

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Software Copyright - Not Just the Code

Most business people don’t realise this, but when a business commissions the development of custom software, the code developed usually belongs to the external developers rather than the client who’s paid for it. The more savvy operators will ensure that their software development agreement has a clause which ensures the code is owned by the client. This article explains how this might not always be enough.

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CopyrightDavid Kwei