The Benefit of a Custom Trademark Description
IP Australia’s official “Goods and Services Pick-List” lets trademark applicants quickly complete the descriptions of their trade marks by selecting items from a list. However, it’s important not to under-estimate the value of custom descriptions by appropriately qualified trademark professionals.
Using IP Australia’s Pick List
IP Australia’s official “Goods and Services Pick List” can be a useful tool to avoid one of the main pitfalls for the novice: classification errors. In this post, we look at the problem and how the pick-list attempts to overcome it.
What are Trademark Classes?
In this post, we look at the concept of “trademark classes” by using a hypothetical example of an application for the word “Excel” by a telecommunications provider. We look at how the application is filled out, and how the examiner uses the nominated class to identify potentially conflicting trademarks.
Should you register your trademark by yourself?
Trademark owners often try to save a bit of money by filing their own trademark applications, however this can be a false economy. Trademark applications are a complex matter involving hundreds of decisions which may affect the existence and extent of your legal rights.
Plan and gather your Evidence of Use
If your trademark is descriptive, you should consider collating Evidence of Use in a folder. It’s much easier to collate this folder as you’re going along, rather than try and do it over a number of hours. It’s amazing how much Evidence you could gather and may even forget to include through the years.
Professional Fees for Trademarks
All trademark applicants in Australia have to pay the official fees charged by IP Australia. In addition, those that decide to use trademark agents (trademark attorneys or trademark lawyers) to help them with the process, also have to pay professional fees. As professional fees can costs thousands of dollars, it’s important to understand how they’re usually charged.
Official Trademark Registration Fees
IP Australia charges fees for the filing and registration of trademarks. These are usually added to the professional fees of any lawyer or trademark attorney who acts on your behalf – and can even amount to more than half of your total trademark registration costs!