Trademark ™ you may need one

Trademark

IP Australia has announced a new tool to guide small businesses and self-filers through the trademark application process via Trade Mark Assist.

Trade Mark Assist helps users check whether their proposed trade mark complies with relevant requirements and is a strong candidate for registration. It also helps them identify relevant goods or services classes in which they may wish to register their trade mark. Trade Mark Assist uses artificial intelligence. It makes the process of applying for a trademark more efficient for businesses seeking to protect their brand.

Patricia Kelly, Director General at IP Australia, commented on Trade Mark Assist, “Assisting trade mark customers is a high priority for IP Australia. Trade mark rights represent our largest filing category with over 76,000 applications in 2017, dominated by Australian filers.  Almost two-thirds of Australian applicants are self-filers and around half of these only ever file once. As a result, we are constantly looking for ways to make the system simpler and more effective for applicants.”

“Trade Mark Assist reduces the complexity of filing a trademark and will benefit our trademark customers, especially our self-filers. Trade Mark Assist utilises machine learning algorithms to provide tailored information to customers. We hope this will increase customer satisfaction and improve the quality of trademark applications,” said Kelly.

IP Australia developed Trade Mark Assist with technology partner, TrademarkVision. It is a Queensland start-up which has developed leading-edge artificial intelligence and image recognition technology that it now sells internationally.

IP Australia is proud to partner with TrademarkVision to deliver cutting-edge tools and services for our customers, based on Australian ingenuity.

GadgetGuy’s take – you can never have enough Trademark protection

IP Australia is a government body that is here to help you. It manages Patents, Trade Marks, Design (appearance) and more.

Too many small businesses think that registering a business name protects a trade name – wrong. They are two distinct processes, and the latter incorporates a visual element. A trademark can distinguish your product from a sea of others.

Trademark