Should you submit your trademark application online or should you hire a lawyer to do it for you?

At Trademarks Online, we cater for business owners who want to register their trademarks in Australia with no hassle. We have made a confusing, high touch process simple. You can trademark your brand name, trademark your business name, trademark a logo or trademark a phrase or slogan with Trademarks Online.

Trademark lawyers tend to charge 60% more to prepare and file a trademark application for you - and will then charge you extra fees once your trademark has been registered. By choosing our self-service system, you can pay once, submit your Australian trademark application in minutes and get back to what you know best - building your business and growing your brand.

If you wish to register a non-traditional trademark like a shape, colour or smell, then it might be a good idea to call in an expert. The process for applying for those marks is more complicated. Feel free to get in touch and we can recommend a lawyer to assist you.

But if you are trademarking a brand name, logo or slogan, you are a good candidate to do-it-yourself using our fully automated Australian trademark application platform.

Some trademarking tips 

To be registrable as a trademark, your brand name or logo should be original and set your business apart from the competition. Words or images which are generic and widely used in your industry could be a problem.

Our article, What is a strong trademark? describes what you can do to make your trademark distinctive, but in general, you should avoid words or phrases which are 

• descriptive (like MUESLI or CRUNCHY for breakfast cereals), 

• too general for your industry (like WE DELIVER WHAT YOU WANT or DELIVER-QUICK for delivery services) or 

• laudatory (like SUPER, CERTIFIED or CLASSIC). 

Click here to read how to avoid common trademark objections by the IP Office.

Choose the correct products and categories

Trademarks Online makes legal complexity simple for you. In the trademark world, all products and services are categorised into 45 different trademark classes. This allows different companies to own the same or similar trademarks where they cover different products (think BOUNTY - which has been registered by different entities for chocolate bars and paper towels).

In the past, knowing which trademark classes you need to apply for has been where a trademark lawyer can add value by sharing their expertise. However, Trademarks Online delivers accuracy to your fingertips! Our system makes choosing the relevant products and services in the correct trademark classes or categories easy, even for individuals who are not trademark lawyers. 

Simply enter a search term based on your business’s products or services. Our smart technology instantly delivers a picklist of approved products and services (within the appropriate classes), making the hardest part of your trademark application hassle-free. You can then easily select the items you wish to cover. Try it and you’ll see how uncomplicated it is!

Be intentional about brand protection

It does pay to think about and include products or services you will use your trademark for in the future. If you don’t, and you later expand the range offered by your brand, you might find that you have no protection from similar competitors entering the market, so it’s best to get the broadest brand protection you can from the start. 

There’s no better time to trademark your brand than today.

Click here to learn the basics of How To Get a Trademark and then do-it-yourself.