A South African Trade Marketplace

Pre-owned Trade Marks

How to Buy a Trade Mark

However, if you want to know how to buy a trademark in South Africa, there isn’t much guidance available about the process. Honest Ron will change that by shedding light on the little-covered topic of buying trademarks.

What Is a Trade Mark?

A trade mark is a brand identifier, which usually means a brand name, logo, or tagline that identifies a business to consumers as the source of particular goods or services. A trade mark registration is an official document issued by a government, certifying ownership of that trade mark by a business or individual. In South Africa, trademark registrations are issued by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission.

Why Buy a Trade Mark?

If you’re starting a new business, it’s important to own your business name, which generally means owning it as a registered trade mark. It’s also a best practice to own your business’s logos and taglines as well. But trying to register a new trade mark in South Africa can be risky, cost a lot of money, and require you to wait for several months before even finding out if your trademark has initial approval. The entire process can take 12 to 24 months, and that’s if nothing goes wrong. So why pay R5 – 10 000 for a chance of owning a trade mark in a year when you can buy an already-registered trademark for not much more, and own it in a week?

Why Buy From Us?

This won’t just save you time. Imagine launching a business, only to find out eight months later that your trade mark application has been rejected and you need to pick a new name. Not only have you wasted the legal fees you’ve already spent, but you now have to spend money on rebranding, in addition to the cost of filing a new trade mark application.

Sure, you could keep using your brand name without a registered trademark, but you won’t be able to kick counterfeiters off of commercial platforms. And there will always be a risk of somebody else deciding you’re infringing on their trade mark rights and forcing you to rebrand anyway. Buying an existing trade mark registration gives you instant ownership of this essential building block for your business and eliminates all of these risks and potential costs.

You will always get sound & practical advice from Ron. He is also prepared to explore novel solutions to problems.

SHAUN RYAN

Ron Wheeldon is as sharp as a diamond edged razor; he works fast and smart and his output in any given time frame far outperforms his competition. Ron is THE IP specialist in South Africa and he’s given us outstanding service and results. You want Ron on your team for any TM and IP related tasks and he is a superb candidate when it comes to any and all trial work. I recommend Ron without hesitation! 

GUSTAV ERLANK

Ron and I have worked together for over 20 years and I have no hestitation in recommending him as an outstanding, creative and resourceful IP specialist in South Africa. He has immense experience of dealing with high-profile trade mark prosecution and litigation at all levels. He’s a great guy too.

PHILIP HARRIS