Trademark
Advice
How to select
a strong trademark.
The most effective trademarks are:
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easy to pronounce
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easy to spell
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easy to remember
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easy to reproduce verbally or in writing
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able to be used worldwide without different or controversial meanings in other languages
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easy to distinguish from trade marks used by competitors
What should I not
use as a trademark.
To be eligible for registration, a trademark must be capable of distinguishing goods or services of one trader from those of another. For this reason, a trademark should not be:
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a sign which other traders are likely to wish to use in conjunction with their similar goods and services. (Trade marks which are descriptive of the goods or services, or expressions and acronyms common to the trade generally fall into this category.)
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a geographical name or a common surname
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scandalous or contrary to law
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likely to deceive or cause confusion (this may include marks which imply a false geographical origin or quality of the goods or services)
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substantially identical or deceptively similar to a prior trademark application or registration in relation to the same, similar or closely related goods and services (unless prior use or honest concurrent use of the mark can be shown). 
Substantial evidence of use of a trade mark which shows that the sign is in fact capable of distinguishing the goods and services may, in some instances, assist in obtaining registration.
It takes 8-12 years on average to qualify as a patent attorney and all patent attorneys have engineering or science degrees as well as legal qualifications, backed up by years of intense training. Writing a patent is part science, part art, and much like heart surgery, it's best left to the professionals.
Our pricing starts at around ~$5000 for a provisional patent application, which lasts for 12 months, and is usually the first step in the patenting process and allows you the opportunity to get feedback on your idea and fine tune it before a "complete" application.
If you don't want the hassle of doing a patent availability search yourself, then we can do that and write you a report of your prospects of success, with pricing starting from $3500.
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Once you have conducted a patent search we can file a patent application for your invention if it is new and inventive over any prior disclosures that you may have found. Of course, you can also instruct us to do a patent search on your behalf, as mentioned above, but most clients do a great job using the links to free patent databases that we send them.
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No search is fully exhaustive or conclusive, so for this reason it is important to include as much information as possible in the provisional patent application, so that you have as many fallback positions as possible, if it turns out that certain aspects of your invention have been done before. For this reason, we believe in writing your patent document to global best practice quality levels (We can also get the Patent Office to conduct an International Type Search on your behalf for the same amount of money or slightly less once a patent application has been filed).
Once we’re done with it, your provisional patent application can serve as the basis for patent applications in nearly every country of the world.
Our pricing for any Australian provisional patent application is dependent on how much time we need to spend in describing the invention and is thus dependent on the complexity of the invention.
We will always provide an upfront quote first, which ensures you remain in total control of the process throughout.
