Protecting Your Brand
Business names, trademarks and domains — securing them before someone else does.
Notes from Randall Harper. Thirty years working alongside owner-operators, executives and boards — companies of all types and sizes — across entertainment & media, hospitality, service based business, lifestyle businesses, financial services, retail and not-for-profit, in Australia, Asia, the United Kingdom and the United States. What follows is the thinking I keep returning to.
Brand protection is cheaper now than later
Most owner-operators underinvest in brand protection at the start because the business name feels like a small thing. By the time the brand has real value, registering it has become significantly more expensive, sometimes impossible, and occasionally has to be bought back from someone who registered it first. A few hundred dollars early prevents tens of thousands later.
The four steps every business should take
- Register the business name with ASIC.
- Register the matching domain — .com.au and .com at minimum.
- Register the social media handles, even if you do not yet plan to use them.
- Consider registering a trademark for the name and logo if the business has any real ambition.
Business name vs trademark
A registered business name does not give you exclusive rights to use that name — it just allows you to trade under it. A registered trademark does. For a business that intends to grow, sell services widely, or build genuine brand equity, a trademark is the meaningful protection. The cost is moderate, the process takes several months, and the protection lasts indefinitely if renewed.
Search before you commit
Before settling on a business name, search the ASIC register, the trademarks register, social media, and Google. Discovering halfway through your first year that another business has the same or similar name in your industry is awkward at best and legally fraught at worst. The hour spent searching first is one of the best-returning hours in the whole startup process.
Watch for infringement
Once you have a registered trademark, you have an obligation to actively defend it; trademarks not defended can be weakened or lost. A simple annual search — has anyone started using a similar name in your industry — protects what you have built. If you find an infringement, address it early with a polite letter; most are resolved without escalation.
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The contents of this paper are the opinion of Clear Point Advisory only. Readers should rely on their own judgement and obtain professional advice appropriate to their circumstances.