This post is an updated special collection of materials on branding and trade marks. All links are to materials available in this integrated Lightbulb blog and Dilanchian website.

Trade mark applications for registration need "legal design". We are passionate about "legal design". The concept is a theme in the post, Generate a legally strong brand in three steps, and it inspired the post titled Is Australian cheese properly branded? The lack of "legal design" in trade mark applications results in a regular stream of work for our firm.

Preparing a trade mark application is deceptively simple. It's a job full of traps for young players. 

Every day a stack of trade mark applications are filed with IP Australia for marks that provide questionable, little or no legal IP monopoly rights. How so?

Preparing a trade mark application involves legal strategy implementation as well as filling in a form.  Treat it as just filing in a form and you'll fall in common traps, for example:

• making the application in the name of an inappropriate entity (eg a trading entity, hence exposing IP assets to threats from litigation or insolvency), 
• making the application for an inappropriate mark (eg a logo, label or graphics when a word may be best to increase the legal monopoly), and
• making the application with an insufficient or inappropriate description of goods or services.

This special collection of our website articles, PowerPoints, videos and blog posts emphasises the need for a combination of creatively and commercially-relevant legal guidance for branding and trade mark applications.

Product-specific guidance

Beer: Trade mark law strategy kept simple for blondes

Beer: “Thirsty folk want beer, not explanations”

Beer: Integrated, differentiated and creative brand strategy

Wine: Hunter Valley wine brands and branding

Wine: Legal Anatomy of a Wine Label [PDF - one page graphic]

Coffee: Coffee brand values

Clothing and perfume: Australian fashion law and industry trends

Chocolate: The Colour Purple: an exercise in expensive litigation 

General guidance 

Generate a legally strong brand in three steps
Trade mark lawyers who say “Hell yeah!”
42 Hints to Secure a Great Trade Mark Monopoly
Top 50 trade marks in the UK in 2006
UK organisational views and statistics on intellectual property
Developing and Protecting Brands and Trademarks in Globalising Markets [PDF]
Why distinctive trade marks are the fittest for survival [PDF]
Improving Creative Destruction by Brand Managers [PDF]
Legal Anatomy of a Registered Trade Mark [PDF - one page graphic]
Lessons from Recent Trade Mark Decisions [PDF] 
10 Essential Tips for Trade Mark Owners [PDF]
How to think like a trade mark examiner [PowerPoint]
Keeping it Real [Dilanchian seminar videos]

Picking a Trade Mark [Dilanchian Video]

Service Description:

Branding and Trade Mark Registration

Solutions/Services Brochures: 

Call for a conversation when you need to achieve a legally strong trade mark registration.

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Graphic: The opening photo is of Melvil Dewey (1851-1931), inventor in the 1880s of the Dewey Decimal System. His proprietary library classification system is protected by trade mark and copyright law.

Other special collections

• Special Collection: Deal Making and Contracting 
• Special Collection: Human Resources Management and Law
• Special Collection: Trade Marks
• Special Collection: Retailing Law
• Special Collection: Business Structuring
• Special Collection: Website Development
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