MAH said:
"A business name registered in any State of Australia will not prevent the registration of exactly the same name in another State, nor will it prevent the Australian Securities and Investments Commission from registering a very similar company name, or a Trade Mark registration of the same or very similar name, and it is not assured that the name will be available as a domain name for the Internet.
The only facility available to you to protect your name is to register that name as a Trade Mark and then the extent of that protection is dependent on your willingness to legally defend your rights."
I happen to work on the system that registers business names in NSW. The key here is what I've highlighted in the quote - ASIC will register any non-identical name. States have different rules about similarity of names. In NSW the policy is not to register a name that is similar enough to another NSW name or ANY Australian company's name to cause confusion to the public. This grey area has led to about 7 years of refining the process that determines if a name is "too similar".
Your right to the name exists in common law, not under your state's Business Names Act, nor even under company law. If you want to protect your name against passing off, you need to be
actively trading under the name. In court if you cannot furnish documents such as invoices, purchase orders, advertising materials or signage using your name and the other party can, you have Buckley's of winning the case.
In any event, nice work on the logo.
