Is your business infringing existing intellectual property rights? Do your homework.

A trade mark can be a valuable asset which can help your business to develop a reputation in the market and distinguish your goods and/or services from others. It's risky, however, to not consider existing third party intellectual property rights before you start to trade.

There would be nothing worse than finding the perfect location, deciding on a business name and launching into trading, only to receive a letter six months later to say that your business is infringing existing third party intellectual property rights, and that you must stop using it immediately. In most situations the only way forward is to re-brand and potentially lose your existing goodwill and customer recognition.

To avoid the cost, delay and potential market confusion that this situation could cause, we recommend that you complete a 'freedom to operate' search before you open for business. This will involve searching for existing registered and unregistered intellectual property rights. Registered intellectual property, such as trade marks, can be searched on the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) website registers here. Existing unregistered intellectual property rights can be identified using Google or any other search engine.

If your intended name, logo or slogan is not already a registered mark, or not already used in trade by another business, you can apply for registration under the Trade Marks Act 2002. Registration of the trade mark will protect your ownership right in that mark and give you exclusive rights to use and manage the mark in New Zealand.