Protecting Your Online Startup’s Intellectual Property Globally

In Short

• Protect your IP – Copyright, trade marks, and patents are key to safeguarding your startup’s brand, content, and innovations.
• Registration matters – Copyright is automatic in Australia, but trade marks and patents require national registration, with international protection needing separate applications.
• Plan ahead – International protections like the Paris Convention and Madrid Protocol can help secure your rights, but deadlines apply.

Tips for Businesses
Registering trade marks and patents early can prevent legal headaches later. If you plan to expand globally, consider using international agreements like the Paris Convention and Madrid Protocol to streamline protection. Keep track of filing deadlines—6 months for trade marks and 12 months for patents—so you don’t miss out on priority rights.

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Table of Contents

• Copyright 
• Patents 
• Trade Marks 
• Paris Convention 
• Key Takeaways 
• Frequently Asked Questions

When looking to start an online startup, it is important to consider protecting your intellectual property. This can often be one of your most valuable assets. The three essential areas of intellectual property protection include: 

• copyright; 
• trade marks; and 
• patents.

This article explores how each applies to online startups and practical steps to safeguard your brand, content, and innovations across different regions.

Trade Mark Essentials

This guide explains the essentials of trade marks and the steps required to register a trade mark.

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Copyright 

Copyright protects the artistic expression of ideas. This can be in writing, music, visual images and even computer programs. It provides the exclusive right to use, license, copy, perform and modify the creative work. In Australia, copyright is automatically applied to creative works. Therefore, unlike other countries, Australia has no copyright register. Copyright is governed by the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). 

Patents 

On the other hand, a patent registration seeks to protect devices, substances, methods or processes. Unlike copyright, patents are not automatic. They often require a relatively lengthy registration process and, in many cases, the assistance of a qualified patent lawyer. Protection for your patent is granted through registration. 

Patents are governed by the Patents Act 1990 (Cth). For an invention to be patentable, it must involve an inventive step and be a manner of manufacture, novel, helpful and not secretly used in the patent area before filing the patent application.

Patents operate nationally. Therefore, applying for a patent in Australia will not grant you rights in other countries. Instead, you will be required to apply for a patent application in each jurisdiction in which you wish to receive patent protection. 

Trade Marks 

Trade marks law aims to protect your company’s brand or the name of a product or service you provide. Unlike patents and copyright, trade marks can be registered and unregistered. Registration, however, provides you additional rights to the rights you may already have in an unregistered trade mark. 

A trade mark is a sign used by the business that helps you distinguish yourself from other businesses. Common trade marks include business names, slogans and logos. Trade marks, like patents, operate on a national basis. Therefore, the rights derived from your trademark registration will only apply in the countries you register in. 

Trade mark protection is an integral part of a business. This is because your branding is the consumer-facing aspect that distinguishes your business and helps consumers identify you. Additionally, this may be important in the context of a startup as trade mark registration allows for an easier assignment of trade mark ownership should the business be bought out.

You can achieve an international trade mark registration through a direct filing for each country of interest. Alternatively, you can utilise the Madrid Protocol to file internationally using an existing trade mark in a country that is party to the Madrid Protocol. The latter allows you to use the existing trade mark as a “base” to broadcast your application to other countries of interest. 

Regardless of the method of filing that you choose, the Paris Convention (discussed below) can be used to your advantage to provide you the benefit of claiming the priority date from your Australian trade mark.

Paris Convention 

The Paris Convention is an important international instrument that allows you to claim the priority date of earlier registered or pending trade marks and patents. This can be important when you are looking to file internationally, as in either instance, achieving an earlier priority date means that your application will be given priority over other similar applications. 

The deadline for claiming a priority date for a trade mark is 6 months, whereas the deadline for patents is 12 months from the filing date of the provisional patent application. It is essential that you decide and plan your IP protection strategy carefully so that you do not miss out on these deadlines.

Key Takeaways 

The three common areas of intellectual property are copyright, trade marks and patents. In Australia, these areas of intellectual property are governed by different legislations, and many require registration to receive additional rights. Areas such as patents and trade marks operate on a national basis and require that you invest time and consideration if you want to receive intellectual property protection in other countries. 

If you need help coming up with an effective IP protection strategy, our experienced IP lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. You will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. Call us today on 1300 544 755 or visit our membership page. 

Frequently Asked Questions