Do you have to register your brand name as a trademark? No you don’t, but then you’re opening up yourself to massive risk, because somebody else could have a trademark registered which is identical to the brand that you’re using. If that happens, even if they register it after you Read more…
Now, what does a logo mean? Think of Apple’s logo, which is a picture of an Apple with a bite taken out. It’s not a new way of writing or a different script for example, if you think of the word McDonalds, they’ve got it written in a particular script. Read more…
When you get your trademark registered, how long is it valid for? The short answer is it depends on the country in which you have it registered, for most of them, it’s a period of 10 years. In most countries, you do not have to prove that you’ve used your Read more…
When you’re filing a trademark application, it goes into what we call different classes. There are 45 different classes of trademarks, and these classes are determined at international level. All this means is that different types of goods or services fall into each class. For example, if you’re manufacturing clothing, Read more…
Should you register your book’s name as a trademark? As a trademark attorney, I hesitate to say no, but the truth is, if you are registering a trademark or books, it generally would be for the publication of the book or books under different titles. Harper Collins probably has a Read more…
So, you want to register your brand as a trademark, not a company name or a business name or a domain name, we’re talking about a trademark on the trademarks register. Trademarks are geographically based, so if you register a trademark in Australia, you get an Australian based protection. If Read more…
Is it worth the cost of getting your trademark registered? Well, I like to look at cost versus value and I also like to look at what would the cost of not getting the trademark registered be? Your trademark is your brand name and having it registered as a trademark Read more…
The legal myth we are busting today is that you can say anything you want about anybody, as long as it’s true. Some people think that the truth is defense to defamation, now that may be true in some countries and even in some states in Australia, but in Queensland Read more…
Today I’m busting the legal myth in a small business relating to copyright ownership and metadata embedded into images. This is a new one, I heard about it after doing a talk recently. One of the members of the audience came up to me and said he had been accused Read more…
The legal myth that we are busting today relates to images on your website. This happened to a friend of mine, She had a web designer design a site for her five years ago, then five years later she received a letter of demand from Getty Images saying that the Read more…