If you have more than one business owner and the business splits, who then owns the trademarks? Well, it’s an interesting question and it really depends on the situation, it depends on the agreement that you have come to. If you have, from the very beginning, created an exit agreement, Read more…
Many business owners create online courses and online programs, the question is should you protect these with trademark registrations? You might be a business coach, and as part of your package, you might sell an online course to help people grow their confidence. Or you might be a mechanic, and Read more…
So, how do you protect your brand or your trademark? There really is only one way and that’s by getting it registered as a trademark. Having a domain name or a company name or a business name will not give you the protection that you need, you have to have Read more…
So what should you do if you have a trademark registered in the name of your old company, and that company is maybe being dissolved, you forgot to renew it, or you sold your shares to somebody else, how can you get your trademark back? Unfortunately, you might not be Read more…
Who owns an unregistered trademark and can anybody actually even own an unregistered trademark? It depends on the country that you’re in, for Australia and New Zealand, an unregistered trademark can be owned. It’s generally owned by the first person to use that trademark in that country and very Read more…
How long is a registered trademark valid for? It differs from country to country, but most countries now make it a 10-year period. After the 10-year period or just at the end of the 10-year period, in year nine, you get to renew it, you have to pay a fee Read more…
So you have a friend who has created a logo for you, and you wonder whether you can register that as a trademark. Well, technically you can file anything as a trademark, the trademarks office is not going to look at ownership. But, if there is a dispute, you will Read more…
I refer to having your brand registered as a trademark as your superpower. Now people sometimes ask me, “If I have a company name registered, a business name registered or a domain name registered, is that enough to protect me?” Surely that means that they’re entitled to use it, right? Read more…
As a small business owner or a startup owner, when should you think about registering your trademark or your brand name? In my view, right at the very beginning. This is because if you are starting with a brand name that somebody already has registered as a trademark, you Read more…
Should you do a trademark search before you start using a new brand or before you file a trademark application? It’s a sensible question but I have found that sometimes clients do a search and they think that they’re safe when they’re actually not. A search is a good Read more…