Trademark tips Archives - Creative Passion

Who owns copyright of my brand logo, graphics, copy and photos?

Creative Passion — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 07:59:02 +0000

When you commission creative work – a logo, website, brochure, photoshoot or copywriting – it’s easy to assume you automatically own it because you paid for it. Unfortunately, that’s not always true.

In Australia, the creator automatically owns the copyright unless there’s a written agreement saying otherwise. So you need to talk to your designer, photographer, copywriter or illustrator about copyright before the project starts – and make sure it’s in writing.

Some professionals assign copyright to you automatically as part of their contract. Others license the work for limited use – for example, a one-off print run, or use on your website only. Some charge extra to transfer full ownership. It’s worth asking, because it affects what you can (and can’t) do with the work later.

Does copyright protect my logo, product name or business name?

Copyright is automatic in Australia, but it only protects original creative expression – not ideas, names, or simple shapes.

That means copyright can protect:

Your logo design, business name and product names (if they’re unique and artistic work)
Your marketing copy or taglines (as literary works)
Photographs and illustrations
Music, video, and website content

But it won’t protect a business name, product name or slogan on its own. Someone could still create a different logo with a similar concept, or a business name that sounds like yours, without breaching copyright – if their work was created independently.

For more detail, visit the Australian Copyright Council.

Are your brand assets protected?

Trademark design is worthwhile when investing in a great logo and identity — and the next step is protecting it properly.

Trademark registration goes further than copyright – it can protect:

Business and product names
Logos, taglines and symbols
Distinctive packaging, colours or sounds

You can register a trademark with IP Australia, giving you exclusive rights to use it in your industry and the ability to stop others using something confusingly similar.

Our advice

Before your next creative project:

Ask about copyright ownership – and get it in writing.
Keep a copy of all agreements and invoices.
Register your trademarks if your brand name, logo or tagline matter to your business.

Your brand is one of your most valuable assets. Protect it early to avoid expensive disputes later.

Love your brand? Let’s protect it properly. Call 3366 8166 or contact us today to secure your creative assets and peace of mind.

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Don’t lose your trademark

Creative Passion — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 06:35:00 +0000

If you have a registered trademark (word and/or image) then it is protected for 10 years here in Australia and can be renewed – but your responsibility doesn’t end at registration. Here are some tips and examples.

The term “trampoline” is now a generic term which anyone can use.

Make sure you keep using it

Simply registering a trademark isn’t enough. At any stage a third party (and that means anyone) can apply to have your trademark deregistered on the grounds of non-use.

And simply using it (for instance if it’s your logo or brand name) isn’t enough either. If someone applies for your trademark to be removed on the grounds of non-use, then you need to be able to provide sufficient evidence of usage. So it’s good practice as part of your every day duties, to keep copies of details such as advertisements, photos of signage or packaging, invoices and other documentation.

Learn more about non-use in this explanation about trademark non-use provided by IP Australia.

Avoid genericisation

Over the years, some well-known companies have either not protected their property or have lost trademark protection. Classic ones include Aspirin, Escalator, Kerosene and Thermos.

You need to ensure that your trademark is considered as a trademark, and not made generic by a court. Make sure you contact a trademark attorney if you want to know how to defend against this*.

Here’s a great article with examples of trademarks lost by genericisation.

Abandoned or improper trademarks

Obviously if you neglect to renew or decide not to renew a trademark, then others can use it.

Probably the most famous is “App Store”, which was originally registered by Apple. They abandoned trademark after a court battle with Amazon.

Keep your details up to date

Make sure your contact details are always kept up to date (you can easily check by searching for your trademarks on the ATMS search).

If someone attempts to register a trademark similar to yours, you may be contacted by IP Australia and if you don’t reply you could lose the opportunity to defend your trademark
If your details aren’t correct you will miss receiving renewal reminders every 10 years
If someone lodges court action against your trademark, and your contact details aren’t correct, you might lose the opportunity to protect your trademark

Make sure noone else is using your trademark

If you own a trademark, then you can decide who uses it.

If you notice someone using it (or something similar) without your permission, then seek legal advice* immediately
You can search IP Australia’s ATMS search yourself but because it’s difficult to do this regularly and easy to miss something it’s best to use a trademark attorney to actively monitor it for you
Free online tools such as Google Alerts can track use of words and phrases but they don’t monitor trademarks with visual elements so it’s not a catch-all and for complete coverage you can use official trademark monitoring services
Keep an eye on your competitors’ printed and online material

Use the ® registered trademark symbol

One of the best ways to publicly display your rights is to use the ® (registered trademark) symbol wherever you use it. It’s not compulsory, but it’s good practice. Here’s more information about the how to use the ™ (trademark) and ® (registered trademark) symbols.

Love your brand? Let’s make sure you own it.

If you think your trademark isn’t protected or is in danger of being lost, give us a call and we’ll recommend a local trademark attorney we know and trust.

Call 3366 8166 or contact us today for strategic design and trademark advice.

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Protect against plagiarism

Creative Passion — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 06:30:00 +0000

If someone copies your material, how will you know? Depending on your industry and competitors, you might be able to monitor some of them – but how can you monitor the whole Internet?

If you only sell locally, then you might assume that it doesn’t matter if someone overseas copies your copywriting or even your imagery. But the bottom line is that Google cares. It helps them to decide if you’re trustworthy.

So if you’re wanting to rank for certain phrases in Google, one of the (many) tests they perform, is to see if your copy is original. At the moment, it seems that they only check the originality of copy, but who knows – they might start checking images too!

Protecting your copy

Of course, the first step is to have valuable and original copy yourself. Don’t be tempted to copy sentences or phrases from competitors yourself. If you engage a professional copywriter, then you can take it for granted that your copy is original.

Article spinning

There are websites and software out there which will rewrite text. But don’t be fooled by the devil. The text often sounds unnatural, and so it won’t appeal to your prospective clients. In addition, Google seems to be learning what’s natural, and you can bet that this is a great way for them to catch spammers. The only substitute (to you or your staff writing the text) is for you to use a professional copywriter.

Check online for duplicate content

There are services which allow you to type in the address for a specific page of your website, and it will advise if it finds anything similar on other websites. Some even monitor your website and alerts you whenever copies are found.

We regularly use this service ourselves and have found duplicates over the years. At one stage, we found an alarming number of exact copies of one particular sentence which had been directly copied from our home page. The main culprit was a company which designs website templates. They had “borrowed” an important sentence verbatim. And unfortunately it means that our unique sentence then propagated on numerous sites around the world. It’s taken time and effort on our part, but the template designer has been helping to remove these infringements.

Google Alerts

Google Alerts offers a free service where you can monitor specific phrases which are important to your business (such as your business name or tagline). Depending on the settings you choose, this alerts you whenever this phrase is used. You might even use it to monitor your (cough!) competitors.

Trademarks

Of course if you have specific phrases (such as your tagline, product names or business name) which are valuable to your business, then registering a trademark is worth considering. This will allow you to protect word/s (wordmark) in the subclasses and country where you register the trademark.

But remember that when you own a trademark, you’re responsible for enforcing it. You need to notify the other party that they’ve infringed.

Another important point is that your registered business name or company name don’t give you proprietary rights to that word/words.

Protecting your images

As a designer, I absolutely detest the idea that someone might copy graphics or photos that we develop for clients. But unfortunately it’s easy for people to copy and paste in the digital world nowadays.

If you commission a photographer or designer to create something for you, then ensure you know if you own copyright. Even if it’s licensed to you, then it’s important to know if you have exclusive rights.

Once again, the onus is on you to find people copying your work, inform them that they’re infringing, and take legal action if they don’t comply.

Google image search

Another free service is Google’s image search. If you go to Google, click on Images in the top toolbar, then click on the camera icon, and you can then upload one of your photos. This is a brilliant way to search for people “borrowing” your material.

At the moment I don’t know of a way to check all images on your site – but please let us know if you do!

Want your brand protected with care and passion? Call 3366 8166 or contact us to safeguard your creative work and your reputation.

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