- Legal protection starts with choosing a distinctive name and logo – made-up words, not common words. Logos which have been created, not copied.
- The best legal protection for your name or logo is to register the name & logo in three ways:
- As a business name or as a company name with ASIC (the Australian companies office)
- As a domain name with a domain name registry (@....com.au and/or .com)
- As a Trade Mark with IP Australia. The ™ symbol is used until unregistered, then the ® symbol replaces it next to the trade mark.
- Registration protects against competitors registering the same or similar name or logo.
- Trade mark registration gives best protection against competitors using a similar name or logo.
- McDonalds are masters at branding. In the McCrispy® image, the name and logo is legally protected as a trade mark. Every McDonalds burger box has the name of the burger followed by the ® symbol to protect the name.
