Top Tips from a Commercial Lawyer The 5 mistakes business owners make that can derail their business and what to do to prevent it. As commercial lawyers we see the same mistakes made by business owners time and time again, and most (if not all) of them are easily avoidable if they had been proactive about their business legals. We wanted to share with you some of these common mistakes and let you know how you can address them now, before they become costly mistakes.
using your business name (in your designated classes of good and services).
1. They do not protect their intellectual property…
2. They do not have a contract in place with their clients…
The only way to stop someone else using your business name or logo is through registering a trademark. If you are doing great work for your clients and people are recommending you – you do not want other people looking for you online and ending up connecting with (or worse still engaging) a competitor that is using your name or something deceptively similar. And yes, this happens all the time! On the converse, you do not want to be inadvertently associated with a bad business. Imagine if you got a bad Google review for poor services but this was not even you. This could happen if a copycat starts using your name. These bad reviews are hard to remove and can damage your goodwill. So, what can you do to help prevent this? Easy, register a trademark. Registering your business name as a trademark gives you the widest form of protection, it stops anyone
22 | Aussie Painting Contractor
The good news is that REGISTERING A TRADEMARK is relatively inexpensive and easy to do. A commercial lawyer with trademark experience can complete the registration on your behalf.
You cannot simply leave it to chance and trust that everyone you do business with will pay you. You need to have the law on your side and for that you need a contract with your client. The amount of business owners we talk to who are owed considerable sums of money and who do not have terms of trade/terms and conditions is scary. The easiest way to make sure you get paid is to have business terms and conditions attached to your client quotes. This then forms your contract with your clients. If you already have terms and conditions, then have a good read of them and make sure that they contain robust clauses around late payment and enforceable limits of liability. You should have a client agreement, and this is usually your quote and your terms and conditions attached.
