Why should you register your Trade Mark if you intend to sell your business

A lot of businesses are getting into business with the ultimate goal of potentially selling.

It’s really important to have a registered Trade Mark if you intend to sell your business. If you’re likely to get investors on board in your business, or that you’re likely to sell or potentially sell one day, maybe five, 10 years time.

One of the first questions I ask is, have you all the trade marks registered or if it’s a piece of patentable technology, have they got the patent, can I look at the patent and really investigating this intellectual property because I know how valuable it is.

And if you’re a business owner that hasn’t taken steps to, amongst other things, register the trade marks for your business name, your logo, your byline, tagline, slap lines, derivative product names, everything that’s a value to the business and taking steps to do that first, before they come along, you can almost bet your bottom dollar that they’re going to insist on that being done before they give you a cent.

Or before looking or purchasing the properties in business.

They won’t even consider doing that until these things have been done first. And it’s one of the first questions I’ll ask in their due diligence apart from the legal structure of the business, who’s in the business, what they’re doing, is all the intellectual property signed up, who has access to the intellectual property, etc.

So it’s a really, really important first step that a lot of businesses forget about, that can come to bite them later on, especially if time is of the essence with a purchase, and these people are looking to invest money.

And at the end of the day, it’s also a reflection of you and the brand, whether these things have been secured.

As part of being a serious business owner, some investors and potential purchasers may look at businesses, like they would, for instance, looking at a sole trader as opposed to a company set up.

And just thinking, well, how serious is this business owner about protecting the business.

So I hope that gives you a bit more information today about how important it is to register these pieces of intellectual property.

Like your trade marks in your business before this stuff happens.

Our sale of business lawyers are ready to help you out.

If you intend to sell your business, get in touch so we can help you register a trade mark through IP Australia.

Contact us today if you require any assistance with filing your trade mark application.

(c) Progressive Legal Pty Ltd – All legal rights reserved (2019)

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