IP protection for a real estate brand
The product: Real Support
The business targets home owners who want to sell their home privately but also want professional marketing and advertising support. It provides signage, marketing and a conveyancing service - a complete private sale solution.
'The main benefit of this service over traditional real estate agents is that the home owner saves thousands of dollars in commission, whilst still receiving support throughout the sale process', says Dean.
The strategy: cover every base
Register the business name
Dean was careful to check that the name Real Support was viable before he developed the business's branding any further. 'Our business revolves around branding and advertising and if we had to change our name after we'd started up the business it would be financially devastating', he says.
He therefore conducted searches of all the necessary databases, including the Queensland business name register and the domain name and trade mark databases, before going ahead with Real Support. 'It was actually quite a fast process, as all of the searches could be conducted online through their respective websites', he says.
Trade mark the logo, slogan and business name
Dean was aware that registering a business name in Queensland only gave him a trading name in that state and no IP rights or protection.
He decided that trade mark protection was a sensible option:
'The 'for sale by owner' concept is a new one on the Sunshine Coast, and franchising opportunities will be a real possibility for us down the track. It's therefore really important that our intellectual property is in place - right from the beginning'.
Dean applied to have the Real Support logo, business name and slogan, 'Real support - your complete private sale solution', registered as trade marks through IP Australia.
Secure the domain name
Dean then ensured that the Real Support domain name was secure and ready for business.
'Online real estate is huge now, and competition is fierce, so I wanted to secure our business name as a domain name, to make it easily accessible for users', he says.
Last Updated: 15/9/2012
