IN BRIEF
Intellectual Property ("IP") may appear to be
intangible but it could be the most valuable asset your business
possesses. It is therefore vital to determine who actually owns
your IP.
The ownership of company names and business names is often a
subject of confusion. The fact that you have registered your
company and business names with ASIC does not of itself give you
any proprietary ownership in those names. The only way you can
legally own company and business names is to register them as trade
marks.
Similarly, although you may have been using an unregistered
brand for years, another party may obtain legal ownership of that
brand by registering it as a trade mark. It would generally require
court action by you to assert your prior rights in that brand. Even
if you do register your brand as a trade mark, you will only own
that mark for the individual classes for which it is specified, not
the classes for which you are actually using the mark.
