A trade mark is a sign used as a badge of origin to inform consumers about the brand owner of a product. This function allows consumers to identify the nature, quality and origination of a product or service. Owners of well-known and successful trade marks seek commercial value from this function, conveying critical messages about their products’ characteristics. This is especially important when it comes to food and drink products because consumers are very conscious of what they eat and drink.
Protecting a successful food and drink brand is very important in protecting that products’ reputation. Consumers are very loyal to brands they have good experiences with and are likely to try new things based on others’ recommendations. The trade marks team at LegalVision understand the importance of branding in relation to food and drink and is committed to helping small to medium businesses obtain trade mark registration for their food and drink products.
LegalVision’s leading intellectual property specialists can register your Food and Drink brand today. Call us on 1300 544 755 or fill out the form on this page and we’ll get in touch shortly.
Applications for food or drink trade marks will require you to specify the relevant classes for your food or drink products. There are 45 different classes under the Nice Classification System. The relevant classes for food and drink products are Classes 5, 29, 30, 31. 33 and 33. The appropriate class to include on your trade mark application will depend on what your product/s is/are. Chocolates and chocolate products are correctly classified in Class 30. Vegetables can be either in class 29 (for processed or cooked vegetables) or Class 31 for fresh vegetables. If your trade mark is to be used on various food products, then you may need to nominate more than one class in your trade mark application.
While choosing the correct class can be easy after you have done a bit of research, satisfying the substantive requirements of the Trade Marks Act 1995 will be more complicated. There is a requirement that the trade mark cannot be substantially identical or deceptively similar to another trade mark already on the register. To find out if there is a substantially identical or deceptively similar trade mark on the register one must first conduct a search of the Australian Trade Mark On-line Search System (ATMOSS) and extract similar trade marks. Assessing whether a similar looking trade mark is substantially identical or deceptively similar can be quite confusing if you are not familiar with the trade mark process.
If you are not familiar with the trade mark process and would like more information about how to register your trade mark for food or drinks, contact LegalVision today.
