Does the IP Australia provide a trademark search?

30 May, 2022

1. Is there a search/assessment service before officially submitting the trademark application in Australia? Yes, the service is called TM Headstart.

2. What are the benefits of using TM Headstart? Receive a report to indicate that your trademark would meet the requirements for registration or not before officially lodging your trademark application

3. How to proceed?

  • Have a login account at IP Australia.

  • Choose to use TM Headstart

  • Follow the instructions and pay the government fee of $ 200/per class

  • In 5 working days, you will have the outcome by email

  • l If the outcome is good, pay the part 2 fee of $ 130/per class.

  • If the outcome is not good, depending on case by case to decide whether to proceed or not. We recommend seeking advice from Trademark Attorney/Lawyer for better results.

  • While for standard trademark filings, the government fee is $250/per class if using the Picklist classification or $400/per class if using a customer’s own classification.

4. Notes to remember:

  • The priority date when using TM Headstart is the official date of payment of the Part 2 fee, not the Part 1 fee. If the Part 2 fee is not paid by the deadline, the application will be canceled and cannot be revised.

  • Some types of trademarks are not allowed to use TM Headstart such as: • Special kinds of signs • Series trade marks • Certification trade marks • Collective trade marks • Defensive trade marks • Divisional applications.

5. The common mistakes customers often make by using TM Headstart?

  • Do not pay the administrative fee Part 2 on time, so the application will discontinue and cannot be revived because you did not check your email carefully.

  • Do not understand the process, so you do not know you need to pay the Part 2 fee to finish the process. You just submit the application and think it’s done In practice, there are many customers who have encountered this situation.

  • We must submit a new application which is wasted money and lost priority date.

6. Does the assessment 100% make sure the trademark protected?

  • No, even in the Australian IP assessment, it was clearly stated that that report does not guarantee 100% that the trademark is protected. There are still some cases where even though the assessment meets the requirements, they are ultimately not protected, because IP Australia detects that an error or omission occurred in the process.

  • We had a customer with this situation and was really disappointed despite using TM Headstart with positive results, but in the end, the application was accepted but still revoked.

Summary:

You can refer to using TM Headstart to be more confident in your decision to register or not to register your trademark.

But it does not guarantee 100% that the trademark will be protected.

Need some advice on this? If you need more advice in your case about trademark services, we offer a free initial consultation.

Need some advice on this?

If you need some more advice in your particular case, we offer a free initial consultation

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