A New System

A new nation­al busi­ness names reg­is­tra­tion ser­vice com­menced on 28 May 2012. The new ser­vice replaces the pre­vi­ous State and Ter­ri­to­ry sys­tems and is admin­is­tered and man­aged by the Aus­tralian Secu­ri­ties Invest­ments Com­mis­sion. The nation­al sys­tem is designed to reduce red tape, save time and cut costs for Aus­tralian busi­ness­es, who can now reg­is­ter and renew their busi­ness names at a sin­gle loca­tion for an annu­al fee of $30 or $70 for three years.


What does this mean for your business?
Assum­ing your exist­ing busi­ness names were not due for renew­al on or before 28 May 2012 you are not required to do any­thing. Your State and Ter­ri­to­ry busi­ness names were auto­mat­i­cal­ly trans­ferred to the nation­al reg­is­ter on 28 May.

If your busi­ness name was due for renew­al before 28 May and you have not yet renewed the name, then you must first renew your busi­ness name with the Depart­ment of Fair Trad­ing and pay any out­stand­ing fees in the rel­e­vant State BEFORE your busi­ness name will trans­fer to the nation­al reg­is­ter.

Was your busi­ness name reg­is­tered in mul­ti­ple juris­dic­tions before com­mence­ment of the new nation­al system?
If so, all of your iden­ti­cal busi­ness names were trans­ferred to, and would now appear on, the nation­al busi­ness names register.

You may choose to renew one busi­ness name and let the oth­ers expire by not renew­ing them, or alter­na­tive­ly you can speed up this process by can­celling the busi­ness names that you no longer require. Can­celling the dupli­cate busi­ness names will not incur a fee.

What hap­pens if your busi­ness name was reg­is­tered by anoth­er busi­ness in a dif­fer­ent juris­dic­tion before com­mence­ment of the new nation­al register?
In this sit­u­a­tion iden­ti­cal busi­ness names will all trans­fer to the nation­al busi­ness names reg­is­ter. An addi­tion­al iden­ti­fi­er (such as the word ´New South Wales´) will appear on the reg­is­ter to assist in dif­fer­en­ti­at­ing between iden­ti­cal busi­ness names in dif­fer­ent States. This addi­tion­al iden­ti­fi­er does not form part of the busi­ness name, mean­ing you can con­tin­ue to trade using your exist­ing busi­ness name.

Remem­ber…
Sim­ply reg­is­ter­ing your busi­ness name does not give you a pro­pri­etary inter­est in the name. To enjoy pro­pri­etary rights you should ensure your busi­ness name is reg­is­tered as a trade mark in respect of the goods and ser­vices for which it is used.

If you would like us to help you pro­tect your busi­ness name please contact:

If you would like to repub­lish this arti­cle, it is gen­er­al­ly approved, but pri­or to doing so please con­tact the Mar­ket­ing team at marketing@​swaab.​com.​au. This arti­cle is not legal advice and the views and com­ments are of a gen­er­al nature only. This arti­cle is not to be relied upon in sub­sti­tu­tion for detailed legal advice.

Publications

Dis­missal and Dam­ages for Psy­chi­atric Injury: A Con­trac­tu­al Trap

In the recent deci­sion of Elisha v Vision Aus­tralia Ltd [2024] HCA 50 the High Court of Aus­tralia held that dam­ages for…

Valen­tine’s Day in the Work­place (2025 Edition)

Valen­tine’s Day, the cel­e­bra­tion of romance and roman­tic love, takes place annu­al­ly on Feb­ru­ary 14.While many assid­u­ous­ly avoid what they con­sid­er…

The Employ­ment Real­i­ty of TV Fame (2025 Edition)

Real­i­ty tele­vi­sion shows thrive on intrigue and dra­ma. A key com­po­nent of suc­cess­ful real­i­ty TV shows is the con­tes­tant view­ers love…

In the News

Michael Byrnes appeared on Break­fast with Ron Wil­son on 2SM on 13 Feb­ru­ary 2025 to dis­cuss legal issues relat­ed to Valen­tine’s Day in the workplace

Michael Byrnes appeared on Break­fast with Ron Wil­son on 2SM on 13 Feb­ru­ary 2025 to dis­cuss legal issues relat­ed to…

Michael Byrnes appeared on Nights with John Stan­ley on 2GB and 4BC on 11 Feb­ru­ary 2025 to dis­cuss legal issues relat­ed to Valen­tine’s Day in the workplace

Michael Byrnes appeared on Nights with John Stan­ley on 2GB and 4BC on 11 Feb­ru­ary 2025 to dis­cuss legal issues…

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, How to nav­i­gate mis­con­duct inves­ti­ga­tions involv­ing men­tal health chal­lenges”, pub­lished in HRM Online on 4 Feb­ru­ary 2025

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“How to nav­i­gate mis­con­duct inves­ti­ga­tions involv­ing men­tal health chal­lenges”, pub­lished in HRM Online…

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