Online business activity has grown exponentially over the past few years and shows no signs of slowing down as the internet plays an ever-greater role in the economy. With that in mind, ensuring the intellectual property (IP) associated with your business is secure and protected is more important than ever.
auDA hosted a webinar with Sergey Litvinov, IP Officer at IP Australia, to dig into the relationship between trade marks and online businesses. Below are our key takeaways from the webinar.
Trade marks 101
In simple terms, a trade mark is a creation of the mind, which takes the form of a ‘sign’. This sign can come in many shapes and sizes, most commonly a brand, a logo, an invention or design work. Trade marks recognise your legal rights to your creations.
If you hold the trade mark for a specific brand or logo, you can use that brand or logo in a way that meets your needs. Your trade mark also enables you to stop people from using your brand or logo in ways that don’t comply with your IP rights.
Understanding trade marks and their relationship to your business is crucial, particularly in online settings where a website is your digital shopfront.
How domain names, business names and trade marks work together
Distinctive trade marks are a big part of the most successful companies in the world – and for good reason. A trade mark should be clear, distinctive and ideally provide a strong link to the goods or services your business provides.
It’s good practice to align your business name and domain name with your trade mark to ensure you’re adequately protected.
Having a strong trade mark tied to your business name and domain name will assist you in building a reputation around your brand, improving your brand recognition, brand equity and consumer trust.
Trade marks can also support disputes where you believe someone else’s domain name registration infringes on your IP rights. auDA’s .au Dispute Resolution Policy (auDRP) is designed to handle legal rights related disputes about .au domain names.
Protecting your brand amongst the rise of online businesses
There’s been a rise in online-only businesses and existing businesses increasing their online presence since the pandemic. In this context, trade marks play an even greater role.
The proliferation of websites and online business material has made the process of registering and protecting trade marks easier. In the past, an application for a trade mark required collecting physical items such as pamphlets and surveys. Now, you can submit evidence of website traffic, social media, eCommerce data and much more with a few clicks of a button.
Similarly, building a case against someone you suspect of infringing your trade mark has also become simpler thanks to the availability of online content.
For trade mark related disputes, contact IP Australia for more information.
Getting trade marks right
If you’re interested in registering a trade mark, it’s important to get it right.
Do your research on IP and trade marks from trusted sources, and consider how your business registration, business name, domain name and trade mark can all work together.
It’s important you submit your best and most comprehensive application. Once your trade mark has been published and you own it, you can’t make changes to it. Think of all the different types of goods or services you might offer now and in the future – consider including them in your application.
Make sure to use IP Australia’s free TM Checker tool to understand the key details, including whether your desired trade mark is similar to any others, which goods and services your trade mark will cover and how much it’ll cost.
For more information on intellectual property, watch the full webinar with Sergey Litvinov, and keep an eye out for our next auDA event.
