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smallbusinessguide.com.auOwning the name you trade under

A guide to trade marks for a small business

Small business guide: owning the name you trade under

Registering a business name lets you trade under it, but IP Australia says it “doesn’t give you exclusive rights to it.” A registered trade mark is what gives exclusive rights to use the mark in Australia, and the five guides here walk through the gap between the two.

General information, not legal advice. The official place to check is IP Australia’s trade marks pages, and the law is the Trade Marks Act 1995. Figures and fees are as IP Australia listed them when read on 9 October 2026.

Domain name
Secures a web address for customers to visit. IP Australia says it “only gives you the domain.”
Business name
Needed with ASIC when you don’t trade under your own name, and gives no exclusive rights to the name.
Trade mark
Once registered, exclusive rights to use it in Australia, for the goods and services it is registered for.

The five guides

From an idea for a name to a name you can defend

The guides run in the order the steps come, from choosing a name to defending it. Each one rests on IP Australia’s own pages and on the section of the Act that sets the rule.

  1. Searching before you choose a name
    IP Australia’s two search options, and what its examiners look for: similarity and distinctiveness.
  2. Registering a trade mark
    Who can own the mark, picking classes, the four steps from application to registration, opposition, and the fees as listed in October 2026.
  3. What a registered trade mark gives you
    The exclusive rights in section 20, the 10-year term in section 72(3), and renewal under section 77.
  4. The ® and ™ symbols, and false claims
    When each symbol may be used, and the offence in section 151 of claiming a mark is registered when it isn’t.
  5. When someone uses your name
    What infringement means under section 120, and the steps IP Australia sets out before anyone goes to court.

At a glance

The figures, with their dates

At least 7 months
The shortest time IP Australia gives for registering a trade mark in Australia.
From $250
The minimum cost to register, per IP Australia’s fees page read on 9 October 2026; fees depend on how many classes the application lists.
45 classes
Classes 1 to 34 are for goods and 35 to 45 for services, in IP Australia’s description read on 9 October 2026.
10 years
A registration expires 10 years after the filing date unless it is cancelled or removed earlier (section 72(3)), and each renewal runs another 10 years (section 77).
60 penalty units
The penalty in each of section 151’s rules against false claims that a mark is registered. The Act’s Reader’s Guide notes that a court may fine a body corporate up to 5 times what it could fine a natural person.

Scope

What this guide covers, and what it leaves out

Business names themselves are registered with ASIC, and this guide doesn’t repeat how that works: IP Australia’s point is simply that a business name registration and a trade mark are different things. A business name can’t be the owner of a trade mark, either. IP Australia says the mark is owned by the business owner or owners, not the business name.

Everything here is about Australia. IP Australia notes that an Australian trade mark protects you only in Australia, and that protection in other countries means applying there.

Where the law sits

The sections of the Act behind each rule

Each rule on this site is tied to the section that makes it. Section 20 gives a registered owner the exclusive rights to use the mark and to authorise others to use it, for the goods and services it is registered for. Section 72(3) sets the 10-year term and section 77 the renewal. Section 120 says when a registered mark is infringed, section 122 lists uses that do not infringe in spite of it, and section 151 sets the offence of falsely claiming registration. The guides quote each one where it matters, starting with the search that comes before any of them.