Why small and medium businesses should have a registered trade mark

Registered trade marks are an untapped resource for small and medium businesses. Despite the inherent value in a trade mark registration, IP Australia reports that less than 2% of Australian businesses hold a registered trade mark. However, on average from FY10/11 to FY19/20, those businesses accounted for around 34% of Australia’s GDP. Out of those businesses, 84% were micro and small businesses. Read more in IP Australia’s 2023 Report here.

In IP Australia’s 2022 ‘Australian Intellectual Property Report’, the agency shared research it had conducted on around 600,000 small and medium enterprises. The study found that SME’s with registered IP rights such as trade marks were more likely to achieve higher growth than their peers with no IP registrations. The report also shared that companies with registered IP were nearly four times as large as companies without registered IP.

IP Australia’s research suggested that SME’s that held at least one IP registration were 16% more likely to achieve high employment growth than those without. For start-ups alone, those that filed an IP right in their first year of operation were twice as likely to achieve higher growth in their first year than start-ups without an IP registration.

The evidence is clear. Registered trade marks add value to a business and are a strong indicator of future success.