Intellectual Property

We provide strategic intellectual property (IP) services to small, medium, and large businesses to help you realise and maximise your reward for effort.

Make an enquiry or call us on 03 5273 5273

Turn Ideas Into Assets. Protect your Intellectual Property.

Intellectual Property (IP) covers a range of valuable intangible assets, including copyright, trade marks, designs, trade secrets, and confidential information. IP plays a crucial role across all industries, from fashion and technology to hospitality and real estate. Whatever your IP needs, our expertise and industry knowledge ensure that you receive the right legal guidance to protect and maximise your assets.

Why is IP Important?

IP protection allows individuals and businesses to:

Maintain a competitive advantage
Prevent unauthorised use or copying
Monetise and license their creations
Enhance brand value and goodwill
Avoid legal disputes

Comprehensive Intellectual Property Services

At Coulter Legal, we understand that commercialising and protecting your IP is essential for business growth and success. Whatever type of legal guidance you need, you can be sure that we have the experience and knowledge to help.

Trade marks

Trade marks protect brand names, signs, logos, slogans, and other identifiers that distinguish your business’ goods and services.

We offer comprehensive legal support to help businesses secure, manage, commercialise, and enforce their trade marks. From brand creation to global protection, we offer strategic advice to ensure your intellectual property is safeguarded.

Key services include:

Trade Mark Searches & Clearance – Assessing the availability of a trade mark before filing to minimise the risk of objections and identify whether your brand infringes on an existing brand’s rights.
Trade Mark Registration – Filing, prosecuting, managing, and registering trade marks with IP Australia and international trade mark offices.
Portfolio Management – Helping businesses maintain, renew, and expand their trade mark rights.
Enforcement & Disputes – Handling trade mark infringement matters, opposition proceedings, non-use removal proceedings, cease and desist letters, dispute resolution, and litigation
Licensing & Commercialisation – Assisting with trade mark assignments, licensing agreements, franchising, distribution agreements, and brand strategy.
IP Audits & Advice – Helping you identify valuable IP that can be protected, licensed, or commercialised, as well as mitigate risks by addressing potential vulnerabilities and ensuring proper ownership of your IP.

Copyright

We offer essential support to help individuals and businesses protect, manage, and enforce their copyright. Copyright covers a wide range of creative works, including written materials, software, music, art, and films.

Key services include:

Copyright Advice – Guidance on the validity of your copyright and identifying instances of infringement, understanding and asserting your moral rights.
Infringement Protection – Representing you in cases of copyright infringement, including cease and desist letters, negotiations, dispute resolution, litigation, and settlements.
Licensing & Agreements – Drafting licensing agreements and assignment agreements to help you commercialise your creative works.

By working with Coulter Legal, you can ensure your creative works are properly protected and that you have the legal tools to enforce your rights.

Designs

We provide legal support to help businesses and designers to protect, manage, and enforce their design rights in Australia. Registered designs safeguard the visual appearance of a product, including its shape, configuration, pattern, and ornamentation, giving you exclusive rights to commercially exploit it.

Key services include:

Design Registration & Strategy – Advising on eligibility, preparing applications, and filing with IP Australia to secure protection.
Portfolio Management – Assisting with renewals, tracking deadlines, and managing your registered designs.
Enforcement & Dispute Resolution – Handling design infringement cases, including negotiations, enforcement actions, and litigation.
Commercialisation & Licensing – Drafting licensing and assignment agreements to help you monetise your registered designs.
International Protection – Advising on design protection in multiple jurisdictions to support global expansion.

With the right legal guidance, you can ensure your designs remain protected, giving you a competitive edge in the market.

Copyright-Design Overlap

In Australia, some creative works may be protected by both copyright and registered design rights—but this area is complex, especially due to the Copyright–Design Overlap provisions in the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) and Designs Act 2003 (Cth). We can help you navigate the overlap to ensure your rights are properly protected and enforceable.

We can assist by:

Assessing the Best Protection Strategy – We help you understand whether your work (e.g. product packaging, industrial designs, 3D artwork) is best protected under copyright, design registration, or both—and how these rights interact.
Avoiding Unintended Loss of Rights – In some cases, if a design is industrially applied and not registered, you may lose copyright protection. We advise on how to preserve copyright or when to pursue design registration to avoid this loss.
Registering Designs Effectively – We manage design applications with IP Australia and ensure they align with your broader IP strategy, particularly where copyright and design rights may both apply.
Drafting and Reviewing Agreements – We draft licensing, assignment, and commercialisation agreements to ensure your rights under both copyright and design law are clearly protected and enforceable.
Enforcement and Dispute Resolution – If your rights are infringed, we assess which legal pathway offers the strongest protection—copyright, design infringement, or both—and represent you in enforcing those rights.

Trade Secrets & Confidential Information

Protecting your business’ sensitive information is crucial to its success. Let us help you protect against unauthorised disclosure with Non-Disclosure/Confidentiality Agreements (NDAs) tailored for your business’ needs.

Our expertise includes:

Outlining and establishing the scope of the confidentiality required;
Drafting tailored NDAs based on your business’ specific needs;
Establishing any permitted uses of your information;
Outlining the obligations of any third parties involved.

We also offer businesses best practices for implementing and enforcing NDAs, including strategies for safeguarding your confidential information, handling breaches, and resolving disputes.

Customs Seizures & Monitoring

We offer expert legal support to help businesses enforce their intellectual property rights through Australian Border Force (ABF) customs seizures. By lodging a Notice of Objection, rights holders can prevent counterfeit or infringing goods from entering the Australian market.

Key services include:

Lodging a Notice of Objection – Assisting with applications to ABF to block counterfeit goods that infringe trade marks or copyright.
Enforcement & Compliance – Advising on legal steps to take once goods are seized, including destruction, settlement, or litigation.
Responding to Seizures – Assisting businesses whose goods have been seized, ensuring compliance with IP laws.
Brand Protection Strategy – Developing a proactive approach to protect your IP from counterfeit imports.
Cross-Border IP Enforcement – Advising on global customs strategies to safeguard your brand internationally.

By working Coulter Legal, businesses can strengthen their IP enforcement efforts, prevent counterfeit goods from damaging their brand, and take swift legal action when necessary.

Our Process

At Coulter Legal, we provide tailored legal support to help businesses and individuals protect, manage, and enforce their intellectual property. Whether you’re securing a trade mark, design, or protecting your copyright or confidential information, expert legal guidance ensures your rights are safeguarded and commercially optimised.

Our Process involves:

Consultation & Strategy – Understanding your IP assets and business goals to develop a protection strategy.
Search & Assessment – Conducting clearance searches to identify potential risks before filing (if required).
Registration & Protection – Managing applications with IP Australia and international bodies for trade marks, copyright, and designs.
IP Management & Commercialisation – Assisting with licensing, assignments, and agreements to maximise IP value.
Enforcement & Disputes – Handling IP infringements, oppositions, and litigation to protect your rights.

Frequently Asked Questions

In Australia, IP rights are governed by various laws and regulations, and they generally fall into the following categories:

Trade Marks – Protects brand names, logos, slogans, and other identifiers that distinguish goods and services. Registration with IP Australia provides exclusive rights.
Copyright – Automatically protects original literary, artistic, musical, and film works, including software, websites, and marketing materials. No registration is required in Australia.
Patents – Grants exclusive rights to new inventions or innovations that are novel, useful, and inventive. Registration is required.
Design Rights – Protects the unique visual appearance of a product rather than its function. Registration is required.
Trade Secrets & Confidential Information – Covers confidential business information, such as formulas, customer lists, and proprietary processes, which can be protected through contracts and legal frameworks.
Plant Breeder’s Rights – Protects new plant varieties developed through breeding.

A trade mark is a sign that identifies and distinguishes the goods or services of one business from those of others. It can be a word, phrase, logo, slogan, shape, colour, sound, or even a scent that identifies a brand and builds consumer recognition.

A trade mark can be filed in up to 45 classes, which cover different products or services, from clothing to computer software, from restaurant services to real estate services.

Only the classes that are applicable to your business need to be included in an application.

We provide considered advice as to what classes are most suitable to you, and then provide a tailored specification within those classes that best reflect your needs.

In Australia, registered trade marks provide exclusive rights under the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth) and are protected through IP Australia. Registration gives the owner the legal right to use their mark for the goods and services for which it is registered, and to prevent others from using the same or a similar mark that might confuse consumers or damage your brand.

Why Register a Trade Mark?

Registering your trade mark gives you:

Exclusive Rights – Prevents competitors from using similar branding.
Brand Protection – Strengthens your identity and reputation.
Legal Enforcement – Provides a basis for legal action against infringement.
Commercial Advantage – Can be sold, licensed, or used as a business asset.
Global Protection – An Australian registration can form the basis for international trade mark applications.

A registered trade mark is one of the most valuable assets a business can own, helping to protect brand identity and market position.

How long does it take to register a trade mark in Australia?

The trade mark registration process in Australia typically takes around 7 to 8 months, assuming there are no objections or oppositions. The process involves several key stages:

Application Filing – Once submitted to IP Australia, the trade mark application receives a filing date (usually processed within a few days).
Examination (approximately 2–4 months, depending on backlog) – IP Australia examines the application to check for compliance with legal requirements and potential conflicts.
Acceptance & Publication (if no issues) – If approved, the trade mark is advertised in the Australian Official Journal of Trade Marks for a 2-month opposition period, during which any third party may oppose registration of your trade mark.
Registration – After the opposition period, and assuming there are no oppositions, the trade mark is officially registered, and a certificate is issued.

If there are objections or oppositions, the process can take longer, depending on how quickly issues are resolved.

Can You Speed Up the Process?

There are a few ways to speed up the process:

Headstart Application – Allows for an early assessment before formal filing.
Pre-Filing Trade Mark Search – Helps avoid potential objections or conflicts.
Expert Legal Assistance – Reduces delays by ensuring a strong application from the outset.

Once registered, a trade mark registration lasts for 10 years and can be renewed indefinitely upon payment of fees.

Business Names and Company Names are not trade marks and do not provide you with proprietary rights.

Registering a business name does not protect it from being used by others—only a registered trade mark does that.

A registered business name allows you to legally operate under that name in Australia.

See more on this topic here: That’s my Name! – Coulter Legal

In Australia, copyright protects original works that are the result of skill and effort. It does not protect ideas or concepts.

Copyright gives creators the exclusive rights to use, reproduce, publish, perform, communicate, or adapt their work. You do not need to register copyright in Australia – it arises automatically under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) as soon as the work is created and written down, recorded, or saved in some form.

Types of Works Protected by Copyright:

Literary Works – Books, articles, blogs, software code, manuals;
Artistic Works – Paintings, drawings, photographs, logos (if artistic), graphic designs;
Musical Works – Sheet music, original melodies;
Dramatic Works – Screenplays, stage plays, choreography;
Sound Recordings – Audio recordings (e.g. podcasts, recorded music);
Films – Movies, video content, animations;
Broadcasts – Radio and television broadcasts.

Designs refer to the visual features of a product—how it looks, rather than how it works. In Australia, these visual features can include the shape, configuration, pattern, or ornamentation of a product, whether they are two-dimensional or three-dimensional.

Design registrations are valuable commercial assets that allow you to prevent others from creating, using, selling, or importing products that closely resemble your registered designs.

In Australia, there is a one (1) year grace period for filing design applications. This means that the design must have been maintained in secrecy before the year started.

A trade secret is confidential business information that gives your business a competitive advantage because it is not publicly known. Unlike trade marks or patents, trade secrets are not registered—they are protected through confidentiality and legal agreements.

Once the information is disclosed to persons without a duty of confidentiality, it loses its trade secret status.

Get in touch with us today

We provide strategic intellectual property (IP) services to small, medium, and large businesses to help you realise and maximise your reward for effort.

Contact form

or call us on 03 5292 4044

Get in touch with us today

We provide strategic intellectual property (IP) services to small, medium, and large businesses to help you realise and maximise your reward for effort.

Contact form

or call us on 03 5292 4044

Our Intellectual Property Team

Tom White

Director I Managing Principal

Corporate & Commercial

Erica Huntley

Special Counsel

Corporate & Commercial