These are the 7 most common mistakes businesses make when filing their own trade marks:
- Searches: Not conducting searches so being unaware their chosen name is already registered to another individual or business.
- Classes: Not filing in the right class — very common to see ‘Class 1’ chosen, which is essentially the chemical, fertilisers, adhesive class. (There are 34 goods classes and 11 service classes.)
- Specifications: Filing with incorrect specifications — these are the goods and/or services in each class that you want trade mark protection in. This is common when businesses write their own specifications.
- Limited Protection: Not expanding out protection to other relevant goods/service classes, so that the scope of protection is too limited and leaves room for someone else to file the same or very similar trade mark and also achieve registration, thus shutting you out.
- Wrong Owner: Filing with the wrong or partial ownership information; e.g., full trustee information must accompany the name of the trust; a business name can’t own a TM; who really owns the trade mark?
- Wrong Trade Mark: Filing a poor or even incorrect representation of what the actual trade mark is — make the effort to file the right trade mark.
- Giving UP! Receiving an examiner’s report and throwing it in the too hard basket. We can help! Sometimes it means starting again, but often a filing can be saved.
Contact us today — we can help by reviewing your IP Australia examiners report and advise the way forward. Send in your examination report or we can get it for you. But don’t leave it too late!