Business & commercial

Intellectual property lawyers in Victoria.

For most modern businesses the valuable assets are not on the balance sheet, they are the brand, the software, the designs, the data and the know-how. CMK Legal helps Victorian businesses identify, own, licence and defend their intellectual property.

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Solicitor-drafted

IP audits, assignments and licences drafted with the commercial use in mind.

Practical timeframes

Most agreements drafted promptly.

Fixed fee, quoted first

Fixed fee for audits, assignments and licences, quoted first.

Australian commercial law

Copyright Act, Trade Marks Act, Designs Act and ACL.

What intellectual property covers.

Intellectual property is a group of separate rights that behave differently. Copyright protects the expression of original works, software code, written content, designs, photographs, drawings and databases, automatically, with no registration, generally for the life of the author plus 70 years. Trade marks protect brand signs and require registration. Registered designs protect the visual appearance of a product and must be filed before the design is made public. Patents protect inventions. Confidential information and trade secrets are protected by contract and equity rather than by any register.

Ownership is where most businesses come unstuck. Copyright in work created by an employee in the course of employment generally belongs to the employer. Copyright in work created by a contractor belongs to the contractor unless the contract assigns it, so agencies, developers, designers and photographers commonly own the very material their clients believe they bought.

The commercial work is in the documents that move IP around: assignments on a business sale, licences that define territory, exclusivity, field of use and royalties, development agreements that allocate ownership of new IP, and confidentiality and IP clauses in employment and contractor agreements. Increasingly, AI-generated material adds another layer, since output produced without sufficient human authorship may attract no copyright protection at all.

IP created by a contractor is owned by the contractor by default. If your website, app, logo or product designs were made by an external supplier and there is no written assignment, your business probably does not own them.

Where we help.

IP audits and ownership clean-up

Identifying what your business owns, what it merely uses under licence, and what needs to be assigned from founders, contractors and former agencies, usually before a sale, raise or franchise rollout.

Assignments and licences

Deeds of assignment, licences defining territory, exclusivity, field of use, royalties, sublicensing and termination, and IP clauses in development, distribution and reseller agreements.

Trade secrets and confidential information

Protecting formulas, methods, pricing, client data and know-how through confidentiality agreements, employment terms, access controls and enforceable restraints.

Infringement and enforcement

Copyright and trade mark infringement, copied websites and product designs, misleading conduct claims, platform and domain takedowns, and responding to demands made against you.

Talk to us if.

  • Your website, app or branding was built by an external supplier
  • You engage contractors to create content, code or designs
  • You are licensing your product, software or brand to others
  • You are raising capital or selling and buyers will run IP due diligence
  • A competitor has copied your product, content or look and feel
  • You have received a copyright or trade mark infringement demand
  • You are using AI tools to generate commercial material
  • You are about to publicly release a new product design

Registered design protection is lost once a design is made public. If a new product is launching, get the filing advice before it is shown to anyone.

How an IP matter runs.

  1. 01

    Audit

    We map every IP asset in the business, who created it, who owns it now and what is registrable.

  2. 02

    Fix ownership

    Assignments obtained from founders, contractors and agencies, and employment and contractor templates corrected going forward.

  3. 03

    Register what should be registered

    Trade marks filed, registered designs lodged before public release, and renewals diarised.

  4. 04

    Commercialise

    Licences, distribution and development agreements drafted so the IP earns revenue without leaking control.

  5. 05

    Enforce

    Demands, takedowns, undertakings and proceedings where the rights are infringed.

Transparent IP fees.

IP audits, assignments and licence agreements are fixed fee, quoted before we start. Trade mark and design filings include a separate line for IP Australia's government fees. Enforcement and infringement defence are estimated stage by stage so you always know the cost of the next step.

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FAQs

Intellectual property FAQs.

Still unsure? Call us on (03) 9008 7224 and speak to a lawyer, not a call centre.

Do I need to register copyright in Australia?
No. Copyright arises automatically when an original work is created in material form; there is no register and no application. What matters instead is proving authorship and date of creation, and holding a written assignment where the creator was not your employee.
Who owns the website my developer built?
The developer, unless your agreement assigns the copyright to you. This is one of the most common ownership problems we see. It can usually be fixed with a deed of assignment after the fact, though the negotiating position is far weaker once the invoice is paid.
What is the difference between a trade mark and a registered design?
A trade mark protects a sign that distinguishes your goods or services, a name or logo. A registered design protects the visual appearance of a product: its shape, configuration, pattern or ornamentation. Designs must be filed before the product is disclosed publicly, which makes timing critical.
Can I protect an idea or a business method?
Copyright protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself, and business methods are difficult to patent in Australia. In practice, ideas and methods are protected commercially through confidentiality agreements, restraints and controlled disclosure rather than through registration.
Who owns content created by AI?
Copyright requires human authorship, so purely machine-generated output may attract no copyright protection at all, meaning nobody owns it exclusively. There are also input-side risks around confidentiality and third-party rights in training data. Businesses using AI commercially should have a policy and contract terms addressing both.
What should I do if someone copies my product or content?
Preserve the evidence, screenshots, dates, product samples, then get advice on which right is engaged. A letter of demand resolves most matters. Where it does not, injunctions, damages or an account of profits are available, and Australian Consumer Law claims can often be run alongside.
How do I protect an invention with a patent?
A patent protects a new, inventive and useful invention, giving you the exclusive right to exploit it for a period once it is granted. Two things catch people out: you generally cannot patent something you have already disclosed publicly, so keep it confidential until an application is on file, and business methods and mere ideas are difficult to patent in Australia. Patent drafting is specialised work usually done with a patent attorney, and we help with the surrounding ownership, confidentiality and commercial agreements.
What are moral rights, and can they be transferred?
Separate from copyright, the creator of a work has moral rights, including the right to be credited as the author and not to have the work treated in a way that harms their reputation. Moral rights stay with the individual creator and cannot be assigned, even where the copyright is assigned, though the creator can consent to certain treatment. It is worth dealing with that consent in contracts with employees, contractors and agencies, so later use of the work is not held up.

Related services.

Trade marks

Searches, applications, oppositions and enforcement of your brand.

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Restraint & confidentiality agreements

Non-compete, non-solicit and NDA drafting that a court will enforce.

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Commercial contracts

Agreements drafted, reviewed and negotiated across every part of your business.

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Own and protect what you have built.

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