Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys in Melbourne

Patents, trade marks and registered designs are granted federally by IP Australia, not state by state, so a Melbourne business gets exactly the same rights whichever Australian city its attorney sits in. What matters is the attorney’s technical background and prosecution experience, not their postcode. That said, plenty of clients prefer to sit down with someone in person for the first conversation about an invention — which is why we keep an office at Level 4, 447 Collins Street, and why the rest of the matter can then run by video and email without you losing anything.

A registered patent attorney is qualified to draft and prosecute patent applications before IP Australia and must hold a technical or scientific degree as well as passing the Patent Attorney qualifying examinations — that combination is what the role requires. An IP lawyer, or solicitor, advises on the surrounding legal questions: contracts, assignments, and infringement proceedings in the Federal Court. Baxter IP’s team are registered patent and trade mark attorneys, not solicitors. We handle securing and defending your rights before IP Australia end to end, and where a matter genuinely requires court litigation we brief and coordinate specialist counsel. So if you searched for an "IP lawyer in Melbourne", the work you have in mind is almost certainly attorney work.

The same as anywhere in Australia — cost is driven by the complexity of the invention and the countries you want to cover, not by the city. A provisional application is the usual first step and the least expensive way to secure a priority date while you develop the idea or test the market. From there a standard Australian application, a PCT international application, or both, follow within twelve months. We quote a fixed fee for each stage before starting, and our guide to what drives patent costs sets out where the money actually goes.

Yes. An Australian trade mark registration covers every state and territory, so one filing protects your brand nationally. The process runs from a clearance search, through selecting the right classes of goods and services, filing with IP Australia, answering any examination report, and then acceptance and a two-month opposition period — typically seven to nine months for a straightforward application. Our step-by-step guide to trade mark registration in Australia covers each stage, or our trade mark attorneys can run it for you end to end.

Possibly not, but treat it as urgent. Australian law provides a twelve-month grace period that can excuse your own prior disclosure of an invention, and a provisional application filed now can still secure a priority date. But the grace period does not exist in every country, so a public disclosure can quietly destroy your rights overseas even where Australia forgives it. If you have demonstrated, pitched, sold or published anything, speak to an attorney before you do anything further.

Regularly. We act for manufacturers, agrifood producers and technology businesses in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, the Latrobe Valley and across regional Victoria. Because IP rights are federal and almost all of the work is documentary, distance makes no practical difference — matters run by video, phone and email, and you are welcome at the Collins Street office whenever meeting in person would help.

If you have made something that works differently from what exists, that is a patent conversation and it should happen before any public disclosure. If you have a name, logo or product brand you intend to build on, that is a trade mark conversation and it should happen before launch, while changing course is still cheap. If the value is in how a product looks, a registered design may be the right protection. Most first conversations sort out which of the three you actually need, and often the answer is more than one.