UPDATED: All done, thanks.
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MYTH: Registering a business name will prevent others using that name
Posted by remarqueble on 2010/10/18
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A business name records the existence of a business. It does not, of itself, protect the name of the business.
In most cases, others will be able to register business names with small variations, potentially leaving customers confused as to which company is the original.
Only a registered trademark gives you legal ownership over your brand.
What goods and services should I include in my application?
Posted by remarqueble on 2010/10/18
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This is often the most difficult part of the application, and where most people run into trouble. Thankfully, we can assist – for free.
Trademarks are registered for particular goods and services. That is, your legal rights are limited by the goods and services you include in your application. Registering your trademark for “t-shirts” doesn’t prevent someone also using your trademark for “medical services”.
The description of goods and services is intended to be a plain language description of the products you sell and the services you provide. Whatever you intend to put your trademark on, you should include in your application.
It’s a requirement that your goods and services are correctly classified into one of the 45 different trademark classes. The classes are general groupings of different, but related, goods and services. If you don’t get this part right, your application will likely be rejected.
But don’t worry about the complexity of all this. It’s where we can help. You know your business and our website can classify your description of goods and services for you. You can pick from literally thousands of pre-approved descriptions, or even describe your business in your own words. If you have a website, this tool is clever enough to scan your website for suggest wording for ou!
TIP – we often find it helpful to type in the names of other websites that do something similar to your business – it normally gives you some good ideas of where to start.
Good Grips in Australia
Posted by remarqueble on 2010/10/18
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Helen of Troy Limited, a US company, recently filed a trademark application for “Good Grips” in the US. The brand has been around for a while, better known as being used by Oxo International for knives and forks.
In this our regular series of Brand Splotlights, we reviewed how the “Good Grips” brand would look in Australia.
Brand Spotlight – Good Grips in Australia
Summary
Trademark: “Good Grips” is already registered as a trademark in Australia for what appears to be similar goods and services.
Domain name: The .com and .net domain names are already registered. The .com website appears to be popular, with significant Internet traffic. The .net website does not appear to be popular generally, but may be within a specialised field. The .com website appears to be used for similar goods and services.
Company name: “Good Grips” has not been registered as a company name or business name, but there are a number of other similar names registered.
General usage: The term “Good Grips” appears frequently on the Internet and may already refer to something else. The brand consists entirely of common English (Australian) words.
What does this mean?
The strongest brands are distinctive. This report searches for your brand against a number of different databases and combines the results to provide an overall indication of your opportunity to create a distinctive brand.
- Brands which are already registered as trade marks for similar goods and services would be a poor choice as a new brand. Not only is that a strong indication a brand is already being used, but you may also end up infringing someone’s rights.
- Brands which are not registered as trademarks but are registered for other business related things, such as company names or domain names, also suggest that the brand may already be in use. You should investigate further to determine the established reputation of each person and whether they are using the brand for similar goods and services. If the brand is being used for something completely different, there’s still a good opportunity for you to create a unique brand for your particular goods and services.
- If your brand has not been registered, but is commonly used (on the Internet or as a common word), there is a chance that your brand may be descriptive of your goods and services and therefore not easily registered or protected. Similarly with common surnames. For example, “Smith Plumbing” contains both a common surname and descriptive term, and is unlikely to create a new and unique brand.
- Even if your brand is a common word, there is still an opportunity to use the word for unrelated goods and service and create a new and unique brand. For example, “Apple” for computers.
Trademark
“Good Grips” is already registered as a trademark in Australia for what appears to be similar goods and services.
Search results
| # | Trademark | Application Number | Status | Goods and services | Logo | View |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | good grips | 1193293 | registered | 8, 9, 21 | View | |
| 2 | good grips | 1279414 | registered | 10 | View |
More information
More information about trademarks and a simple and cost effective process for registering a brand can be found at http://tmarque.com.au.
Domain Name
The .com and .net domain names are already registered. The .com website appears to be popular, with significant Internet traffic. The .net website does not appear to be popular generally, but may be within a specialised field. The .com website appears to be used for similar goods and services.
Search results
| # | Domain | Status | Country | Popularity | Age | Similar goods and services? | View |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GoodGrips.com | Registered | Global | Medium | 15-Feb-1996 | Yes | View |
| 2 | GoodGrips.net | Registered | Global | Low | N/A | No | View |
| 3 | GoodGrips.com.au | Available | Australia | - | - | - | Register |
| 4 | GoodGrips.net.au | Available | Australia | - | - | - | Register |
More information
More information about domain names can be found at http://tmarque.com.au/web/domain_names.
Company Name
“Good Grips” has not been registered as a company name or business name, but there are a number of other similar names registered.
Search results
| # | Name | Type | Registration Number | Status | View |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GOOD GRIP TYRE & AUTO | Business Name | VIC B2231651H | REGD | View |
More information
More information about company and business name registrations can be found at http://www.asic.gov.au.
General usage
Online usage
The term “Good Grips” appears frequently on the Internet. A search in most popular Internet search engines will return thousands of results.
Australian geographic locations
The brand does not appear to contain any Australian geographic locations.
Common Australian surnames
Good is a common Australian surname.
| # | Word | Common Surname |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Good | Yes |
| 2 | Grips | No |
Common words
Good is a common English (Australian) word. Grips is a common English (Australian) word.
| # | Word | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Good | Yes |
| 2 | Grips | Yes |
Same brand, different goods and services – Vortex
Posted by remarqueble on 2010/10/18
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This week we highlight the issue of brand scarcity by looking at the word “Vortex”.
Vortex was recently applied for as a trademark by LG Electronics in the US. But the market is already quite crowded with “Vortex” marks. Below is how the market looks in Australia.
Trademarks can be used by different vendors for different goods and services. And that’s what you see below. From the below you can see that Vortex has not been registered yet in relation to (for example) firearms, jewellery, etc.
However, in an online world, there is only one vortex.com globally, and that is registered. So care needs to be taken in selecting the correct name.
Vortex
Trademark: “VORTEX” is already registered or pending registration as a trademark in Australia. Depending you your intented use of the trademark, it may still be available for registration for your goods and services (for the purposes of this report we’ve assumed you can distinguish existing trademarks from your planned use).
Domain name: The .com, .net, .com.au and .net.au domain names are already registered. The .com, .net, .com.au and .net.au websites do not appear to be popular generally, but may be within a specialised field. The .net.au websites appear to be used for similar goods and services.
Company name: “VORTEX” is already registered as a company name in Australia.
General usage: The term “VORTEX” appears frequently on the Internet and may already refer to something else. The brand consists entirely of common English (Australian) words.
Trademark
“VORTEX” is already registered or pending registration as a trademark in Australia. Depending you your intented use of the trademark, it may still be available for registration for your goods and services (for the purposes of this report we’ve assumed you can distinguish existing trademarks from your planned use).
Search results
| # | Trademark | Application Number | Status | Goods and services | Logo | View |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | vortex | 378029 | registered | 7 | View | |
| 2 | vortex | 745221 | registered | 28 | View | |
| 3 | vortex | 747351 | registered | 9 | View | |
| 4 | vortex | 823609 | registered | 4 | View | |
| 5 | vortex | 843183 | registered | 10 | View | |
| 6 | vortex | 851374 | registered | 7 | View | |
| 7 | vortex | 868545 | registered | 5 | View | |
| 8 | vortexml | 873785 | registered | 9 | View | |
| 9 | vortex | 876532 | registered | 7 | View | |
| 10 | vortex | 891167 | registered | 18 | View | |
| 11 | vortex4 growth ventures | 911946 | registered | 35, 41 | View | |
| 12 | vortex | 916298 | registered | 12 | View | |
| 13 | vortex | 919762 | registered | 9 | View | |
| 14 | vortex | 928517 | registered | 19 | View | |
| 15 | vortex | 955151 | registered | 11 | View | |
| 16 | vortex | 955837 | registered | 11 | View | |
| 17 | vortex | 974082 | registered | 6 | View | |
| 18 | vortex | 976637 | registered | 5 | View | |
| 19 | twin vortex mixaerator | 999032 | registered | 7, 11, 40 | View | |
| 20 | energy vortex | 1033782 | registered | 9, 14 | View | |
| 21 | vortex | 1038833 | registered | 7 | View | |
| 22 | vortex | 1079086 | registered | 11 | View | |
| 23 | vortex | 1083458 | registered | 12 | View | |
| 24 | vortex | 1092531 | registered | 12 | View | |
| 25 | vortex | 1095325 | registered | 25 | View | |
| 26 | vortex | 1096274 | registered | 12 | View | |
| 27 | vortex | 1125716 | registered | 9 | View | |
| 28 | vortex audio | 1125719 | registered | 9 | View | |
| 29 | vortex | 1129459 | registered | 7 | View | |
| 30 | vortex | 1143699 | registered | 5, 21 | View | |
| 31 | vortex energy | 1144038 | registered | 41 | View | |
| 32 | vortex | 1144483 | registered | 7 | View | |
| 33 | vort-x | 1155868 | registered | 16, 20, 39 | View | |
| 34 | ‘vortex’ infloor cleaning & circulation system | 1162411 | registered | 7, 40 | View | |
| 35 | vortex | 1184014 | registered | 12 | View | |
| 36 | vortex | 1188953 | registered | 7, 23 | View | |
| 37 | v vortex | 1188954 | registered | 7, 23 | View | |
| 38 | vortex | 1220334 | registered | 28 | View | |
| 39 | vortex | 1220873 | registered | 9 | View | |
| 40 | vortex induction | 1253456 | registered | 7 | View | |
| 41 | vortx | 1284756 | pending | 11 | View | |
| 42 | vortex | 1293594 | registered | 11 | View | |
| 43 | vortex | 1293598 | registered | 19 | View | |
| 44 | vortex | 1320655 | registered | 7 | View | |
| 45 | vortex | 1324864 | registered | 7 | View | |
| 46 | vortex | 1334615 | pending | 7 | View | |
| 47 | vortex | 1347771 | pending | 12 | View | |
| 48 | the vortex centre | 1348796 | pending | 41 | View | |
| 49 | vortex | 1359361 | pending | 21 | View | |
| 50 | pacific vortex challenge | 1372442 | pending | 36, 41 | View | |
| 51 | pacific vortex challenge | 1374959 | pending | 36, 41 | View |
What does this mean?
This search is a “exact match” search of the Australian trademark office database. The database is updated daily, but it can take a number of days for new applications to appear and therefore in some circumstances the results may not show all relevant entries. Our search shows the first 100 results.
Trademarks are registered for particular goods and services. Even if a brand is already registered as a trademark, it is often the case that a new application can be distinguished from existing application’s because it relates to different goods and services. For example, “Aardvark” could be registered by one person for clothes and another different person for computers.
Domain Name
The .com, .net, .com.au and .net.au domain names are already registered. The .com, .net, .com.au and .net.au websites do not appear to be popular generally, but may be within a specialised field. The .net.au websites appear to be used for similar goods and services.
Search results
| # | Domain | Status | Country | Popularity | Age | View |
| 1 | VORTEX.com | Registered | Global | Low | 27-Oct-1986 | View |
| 2 | VORTEX.net | Registered | Global | Low | 21-Jun-1997 | View |
| 3 | VORTEX.com.au | Registered | Australia | Low | N/A | View |
| 4 | VORTEX.net.au | Registered | Australia | Low | N/A | View |
Company Name
“VORTEX” is already registered as a company name in Australia.
Search results
| # | Name | Type | Registration Number | Status | View |
| 1 | VORTEX | Business Name | VIC P969943 | PEND | View |
| 2 | VORTEX PTY. LTD. | Company | ACN 055 571 189 | REGD | View |
| 3 | VORTEX (VIC) PTY LTD | Company | ACN 131 124 420 | SOFF | View |
General usage
Online usage
The term “VORTEX” appears frequently on the Internet. A search in most popular Internet search engines will return thousands of results.
| # | Search | View |
| 1 | View | |
| 1 | Bing | View |
| 1 | Yahoo! | View |
Australian geographic locations
The brand does not appear to contain any Australian geographic locations.
Common Australian surnames
The brand does not appear to contain any “common” Australian surnames.
| # | Word | Common Surname |
| 1 | VORTEX | No |
Common words
VORTEX is a common English (Australian) word.
| # | Word | English |
| 1 | VORTEX | Yes |
Blog migration
Posted by remarqueble on 2010/10/18
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The blog will be back up shortly! We’re just moving it to a new platform.
