Section 20
The rights, in the Act’s words
“If a trade mark is registered, the registered owner of the trade mark has, subject to this Part, the exclusive rights: (a) to use the trade mark; and (b) to authorise other persons to use the trade mark; in relation to the goods and/or services in respect of which the trade mark is registered.”
Trade Marks Act 1995, section 20(1)
The rest of the section adds three things. The owner also has the right to obtain relief under the Act if the mark is infringed (section 20(2)). The rights are taken to have accrued from the date of registration (section 20(3)). And if the mark is registered subject to conditions or limitations, the owner’s rights are restricted by them (section 20(4)). Where a mark is registered to two or more people as joint owners, section 20(5) says they exercise the rights as if they were the rights of a single person.
Section 20(3) dates the rights from the “date of registration”, and section 6, paragraph (a), defines that date as “the day from which the registration of the trade mark in respect of those goods or services is taken to have had effect under subsection 72(1) or (2).” Section 72(1) sets that day as the filing date, subject to section 72(2), so the rights run from the day the application was filed.
The edges
Where the rights stop
At the goods and services listed
The exclusive rights in section 20 are “in relation to the goods and/or services in respect of which the trade mark is registered.” IP Australia says the same in plain words: you’ll only have exclusive rights for the goods and services listed in your application, and a mark registered in a class that doesn’t match the business may leave it without the protection it needs. Choosing classes is covered in registering a trade mark.
At the border
IP Australia notes that an Australian trade mark only gives protection in Australia, and protection in other countries means applying for it there.
At the business name
None of this comes from registering a business name. IP Australia says a business name registration doesn’t give exclusive rights to the name, and that registering a trade mark puts you in a strong position to protect it and stop others from using it.
In practice
What IP Australia lists as the benefits
IP Australia describes what a registered mark brings in five parts: a business asset that becomes more valuable as the business succeeds; the legal right to place the registered trade mark symbol next to the mark; exclusive rights to use the mark in Australia; the ability to legally deter others from using it; and the ability to sell it or license it for others.
The right to authorise others in section 20(1)(b) is what a licence uses. IP Australia describes licensing as the owner, called the licensor, letting a licensee use the IP for payment, without the licensee owning it. It adds that renewal fees must keep being paid through a licence, since the right ends if it isn’t renewed.
It also says trade marks can be registered or unregistered, and that a registered mark generally provides stronger legal protection than an unregistered one. When to use the ® symbol, and the offence of using it wrongly, are in the ® and ™ symbols.
Sections 72 and 77
Ten years, then renewal
“Unless it is earlier cancelled, or the trade mark is earlier removed from the Register, the registration of the trade mark expires 10 years after the filing date in respect of the application for its registration.”
Trade Marks Act 1995, section 72(3)
Section 77(1) then provides: “If a request for the renewal of the registration of a trade mark is made in accordance with section 75, the Registrar must renew the registration for a period of 10 years from the day on which the registration of the trade mark would expire if it were not renewed.” IP Australia says a trade mark can be renewed any number of times.
- Up to a year early
- Renewal can be made as early as a year before it falls due.
- Two months before
- IP Australia sends a reminder notice two months before renewal is due.
- $400 or $450 a class
- The renewal fee, $400 per class paid through online services or $450 per class by other payment methods, as listed on IP Australia’s renewal page read on 9 October 2026.
- Six months’ grace
- A missed renewal date leaves a six-month grace period, with an extra $100 for each month or part of a month the fee is unpaid; 12 days late costs an extra $100 (as listed on 9 October 2026).
- Then it lapses
- If the renewal or fee isn’t paid within the grace period, the rights lapse and the mark is no longer protected.
IP Australia is direct about what a lapse costs: once protection lapses, “you’ll lose all rights that come from registration.” It also says renewing on time is the owner’s responsibility, and that the status of a registration can be checked at any time on Australian Trade Mark Search.
Next guideShowing the rights, and defending them, each have a guide: The ® and ™ symbols covers the first; when someone uses your name covers the second.