What you're agreeing to
These Terms and Conditions are a legally binding contract between you and MarkMaster. Please read them carefully before accepting. MarkMaster is a self-service trade mark filing platform. We are NOT a law firm and we do NOT provide legal advice. The Platform helps you prepare and lodge trade mark applications with IP Australia, but it does not replace advice from a qualified legal practitioner or registered trade marks attorney. If you would like legal advice on your trade mark, you can request a referral to a legal professional through the "Request Legal Advice" section in the application. You accept these Terms, and create a binding contract with MarkMaster, by clicking the "I Accept" button (or any equivalent acceptance control) presented on the Platform, by creating a Platform account, or by otherwise commencing or continuing to use the Platform. By clicking "I Accept" (or otherwise indicating acceptance), you confirm that: (a) you have read and understood these Terms; (b) you agree to be bound by them; (c) you understand that MarkMaster is not a law firm, does not provide legal advice, and that nothing on the Platform constitutes legal advice; (d) where you accept these Terms on behalf of a business, company, partnership, trust or other entity, you warrant that you have authority to bind that entity, and the term "you" in these Terms includes that entity; (e) your electronic acceptance has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature, in accordance with the Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (Cth) and the Electronic Transactions Act 2000 (NSW); and (f) MarkMaster will record the fact, date and time of your acceptance, your account identifier, and the version of these Terms accepted, and may rely on that record as conclusive evidence of your acceptance. If you do not agree to these Terms, do not click "I Accept" and do not use the Platform.
1. Introduction
Mark Master Pty Ltd ("the Platform", "we", "us", "our") ACN 701 733 977 carries on business operating an Australian self-service trade mark filing platform. In these Terms, "MarkMaster", "we", "us" and "our" refer to Mark Master Pty Ltd. Our business address is Suite 17, Level 3, 1 Mona Vale Road, Mona Vale NSW 2103, Australia. MarkMaster is NOT a law firm. We do not provide legal advice, legal representation, or any other legal services. We provide technology that helps you prepare and lodge trade mark applications with IP Australia, together with administrative support around those applications. These Terms and Conditions ("Terms") apply to your access to and use of the Platform, together with our Privacy Policy and any other policies referenced in them. Where you have been introduced to the Platform by a Partner (defined below), these Terms operate as a platform-acceptance layer on top of any separate engagement you have with that Partner. Nothing in these Terms displaces, varies or replaces the engagement between you and your Partner.
2. Definitions
For the purposes of these Terms: • ACL means Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). • Application means a trade mark application lodged through the Platform on your behalf. • Client, you or your refers to the individual or business entity in whose name an Application is or will be lodged through the Platform. • Documentation means any information, document, image or material submitted to the Platform in connection with an Application. • Intellectual Property Rights includes patents, rights to inventions, copyright, trade marks, trade names, domain names, rights in goodwill, rights in confidential information and any other intellectual property rights, whether registered or unregistered, and all applications, renewals and extensions of those rights. • IP Australia means the Australian Government agency responsible for administering intellectual property rights under the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth) and related legislation. • Legal Advice means advice on the law, on your legal rights or obligations, or on the legal merits or risks of any particular course of action, that can only lawfully be provided by an Australian legal practitioner or registered trade marks attorney. • Partner means any third-party reseller, agency, consultancy or other intermediary who has introduced you to the Platform and who has separately engaged MarkMaster to access and use the Platform on your behalf. Use of the Platform does not require a Partner. • Partner Engagement means the separate written or implied agreement (if any) between you and your Partner under which the Partner provides services to you, including those services that involve the use of the Platform. • Platform means MarkMaster and its associated website, software, mobile applications and systems. • Services means the platform and administrative filing services described in clause 4.
3. Structure of Your Engagement
You acknowledge and agree that: (a) MarkMaster is a self-service trade mark filing platform and is NOT a law firm — we do not provide Legal Advice and nothing on the Platform should be relied upon as Legal Advice; (b) MarkMaster acts as a filing facilitator and may be recorded as your address for service with IP Australia in respect of an Application, solely for the administrative purpose of receiving correspondence and lodging documents on your instructions; (c) where you have been introduced by a Partner, your Partner may also provide commercial or administrative services to you under the Partner Engagement (such as fee handling, project management, or general business consulting), but those services are between you and your Partner; (d) any complaint, dispute or claim you have in relation to the scope, quality, price or delivery of services purchased by you from your Partner must be raised with your Partner under the terms of the Partner Engagement; and (e) any complaint, dispute or claim you have in relation to the operation, availability or functionality of the Platform may be raised directly with MarkMaster, subject always to any rights you may have under the ACL that cannot be excluded.
4. Scope and Nature of MarkMaster Services
The Services provided by MarkMaster include: (a) providing the Platform as a self-service tool for the preparation, lodgement and ongoing administration of trade mark applications with IP Australia; (b) lodging your Application with IP Australia on your instructions, and being recorded as your address for service for administrative purposes; (c) receiving and forwarding to you correspondence from IP Australia (including any preliminary assessment, examiner's report or notice of opposition), and presenting that correspondence in plain English where helpful; (d) providing administrative support, including status updates, deadline tracking, renewal reminders, and notifications about your Application; and (e) such other administrative and facilitative services as MarkMaster may make available through the Platform from time to time. MarkMaster does NOT provide Legal Advice. In particular, MarkMaster does NOT: (i) advise you on whether your proposed trade mark is registrable, distinctive, or free from conflict with other rights; (ii) advise you on the legal merits or strategy for responding to any objection, notice or opposition issued by IP Australia or any third party; (iii) draft legal arguments or submissions on your behalf; or (iv) act as your legal representative in any contested or substantive matter. Where any matter requires Legal Advice (including responding to a substantive objection or opposition), MarkMaster will notify you and you may request a referral to a legal professional via the "Request Legal Advice" section in the Platform. Any engagement of that legal professional is between you and them — MarkMaster is not a party to that engagement. Registration of a trade mark by IP Australia is not guaranteed and remains at the discretion of IP Australia under the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth). MarkMaster does not warrant any particular outcome.
5. No Legal Advice — Information Only
You acknowledge and agree that: (a) MarkMaster is NOT a law firm or registered trade marks attorney. We do not hold a legal practising certificate or trade marks attorney registration in the name of the Platform; (b) any information, content, decision-support tool, AI suggestion, recommendation, FAQ, summary, plain-English explanation, classification suggestion, risk indicator or guidance text made available through the Platform (including any AI-generated content) is general information only, is not Legal Advice, and is not a substitute for advice from a qualified legal practitioner or registered trade marks attorney; (c) you must not rely on Platform content as Legal Advice, and you are solely responsible for any decisions you make based on Platform content (including the decision to lodge an Application, the goods and services you select, the form of your mark, and any response you give to IP Australia); (d) any search, look-up, availability check or similar result generated by the Platform draws on data from IP Australia and other third-party registers. That data is not controlled by MarkMaster and may be incomplete, out of date or inaccurate. A Platform search is a preliminary indication only, is not a comprehensive trade mark clearance or availability search, and does not guarantee that a mark is available, registrable or free from conflict with the rights of others. A full clearance search and an assessment of availability require Legal Advice; (e) if you would like Legal Advice in relation to your trade mark, you can request a referral to a legal professional through the "Request Legal Advice" section of the Platform. You should be aware that one firm to which MarkMaster may refer you is Brandu Legal, a specialist intellectual property law practice. MarkMaster (operated by Mark Master Pty Ltd) and Brandu Legal (the legal practice carried on by Natalie Murray-Jones) are related businesses under common ownership and control. A referral to Brandu Legal is therefore a referral to a related business, not to an independent firm, and an inherent conflict of interest arises from that common ownership. MarkMaster does not charge or receive any separate commission or referral fee for making the referral. You are under no obligation to accept any referral and remain free to engage any Australian legal practitioner or registered trade marks attorney of your own choosing, independent of MarkMaster and Brandu Legal. If you do accept a referral to Brandu Legal, the legal services will be provided to you by Brandu Legal under its own separate terms of engagement, at its own fees, and the duties Brandu Legal owes you as a law practice (including duties of confidentiality, loyalty and competence) will arise under that engagement and not under these Terms; and (f) nothing on the Platform creates a solicitor-client, attorney-client, or other legal professional relationship between you and MarkMaster.
6. Your Engagement with Your Partner
If you have been introduced to the Platform by a Partner: (a) your Partner may be your primary point of contact for commercial and administrative matters relating to your trade mark project, and is responsible for the services described in the Partner Engagement; (b) your Partner is responsible for any fees payable by you to the Partner for the overall service, and for issuing tax invoices to you in respect of those fees; (c) the fees payable by your Partner to MarkMaster under the Partner's separate agreement with MarkMaster are a matter between MarkMaster and your Partner; and (d) MarkMaster is not responsible for representations, advice or conduct of your Partner that fall outside the scope of the Platform Services, and any claim arising from such representations, advice or conduct must be pursued against your Partner under the Partner Engagement (subject to your rights under the ACL).
7. Your Responsibilities
You are responsible for ensuring that: (a) all Documentation, information and instructions submitted via the Platform (whether by you or by your Partner on your behalf) are true, accurate, complete and not misleading; (b) you have all necessary rights, permissions, and authority to submit any Documentation to the Platform, and that doing so does not infringe any third-party Intellectual Property Rights; (c) you do not use the Platform for any unlawful, fraudulent, abusive, defamatory, obscene, or otherwise objectionable purpose; (d) the trade mark details you provide, including the representation of the mark, specification of goods and services, class selection and applicant identity, are correct — MarkMaster lodges what you instruct and does not verify the legal correctness of those details; (e) you obtain independent Legal Advice where appropriate before lodging an Application or responding to any IP Australia correspondence; and (f) you promptly notify MarkMaster (and your Partner, where applicable) of any change to your contact details, applicant details, or other information relevant to the Application. If you provide inaccurate, misleading or fraudulent information in connection with an Application, MarkMaster may immediately suspend or terminate your access to the Platform, refuse further Services, notify IP Australia where appropriate, and pursue all remedies available under the law.
8. Intellectual Property
MarkMaster retains all right, title and interest, including all Intellectual Property Rights, in the Platform and its functionality, content, design, software, branding and any improvements or modifications. Nothing in these Terms transfers any of those rights to you. By submitting Documentation through the Platform, you grant MarkMaster a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, sublicensable licence to use, store, reproduce, display, transmit and distribute that Documentation solely for the purposes of providing the Services. The licence terminates on completion of the Services, except where retention is required by law or for MarkMaster's legitimate record-keeping purposes. You retain all ownership of the trade marks, logos, designs and other intellectual property that you submit. You warrant that you have all rights necessary to submit them and to authorise MarkMaster's use of them for the purposes set out in these Terms.
9. Fees and Payment
MarkMaster's fees for the Services (including platform fees, administrative filing fees and pass-through IP Australia government fees) are as displayed on the Platform at the time of submission. Fees are not legal fees and are not regulated as legal costs, because MarkMaster does not provide Legal Advice. Where you have been introduced by a Partner, the Partner may add their own mark-up or service fees, set, invoice and collect amounts from you under the Partner Engagement. MarkMaster has no role in setting the fees payable by you to your Partner. Government filing fees payable to IP Australia are passed through at cost. Fees are quoted in Australian Dollars (AUD) and include GST unless otherwise stated. Fees once paid are non-refundable except where required by law (including the ACL). If you choose to engage a legal professional via the "Request Legal Advice" section, the fees for those legal services are payable directly to that legal professional under their own terms — MarkMaster does not set, invoice or collect those fees on behalf of the legal professional unless a separate arrangement has been disclosed to you in writing.
10. Examination Objections and Oppositions
If IP Australia raises objections in respect of your Application, or a third party files an opposition: (a) MarkMaster will forward the relevant correspondence to you (and to your Partner, where applicable) and may present a plain-English summary of what the correspondence says. Any such summary is general information only and is NOT Legal Advice; (b) MarkMaster may, on your instructions, lodge purely administrative or formalities responses with IP Australia (for example, minor classification amendments) where doing so does not require Legal Advice; (c) for any substantive issue (including objections under sections 41, 43, 44, 60 or 62A of the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth), or any opposition), MarkMaster will not act on your behalf in any legal capacity. You will be presented with the option to: (i) Request Legal Advice — request a referral to a legal professional via the Platform, at that professional's own fees and on their own terms (a referral may be to Brandu Legal, another business operated by the same person who operates MarkMaster, as disclosed in clause 5); or (ii) Allow to Lapse — instruct MarkMaster to take no further action, in which case the Application will lapse and no further MarkMaster fees will be incurred; and (d) you may at any time engage an independent legal practitioner or registered trade marks attorney of your own selection. If you do so, you must notify MarkMaster in writing so that the address for service can be transferred to that practitioner.
11. Address for Service
You acknowledge and consent that: (a) when MarkMaster lodges an Application on your behalf, the address for service recorded with IP Australia may be set to MarkMaster (or its nominee). This is an administrative arrangement only — it does not make MarkMaster your legal representative and does not give MarkMaster authority to provide Legal Advice or take substantive steps on your behalf without your instructions; (b) MarkMaster will remain the address for service throughout the lifecycle of the Application, including through examination, acceptance, registration and renewal monitoring, unless you instruct MarkMaster otherwise in writing; (c) you may at any time, by written notice to MarkMaster, instruct MarkMaster to change or remove the address for service in respect of your Application or registered trade mark (for example, if you wish to engage an independent legal practitioner or registered trade marks attorney of your own selection); and (d) MarkMaster may poll or query IP Australia periodically to confirm the status of your Application, and may take any administrative steps necessary to maintain the address for service in accordance with this clause.
12. Privacy and Confidentiality
MarkMaster handles personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles, and the MarkMaster Privacy Policy available on the Platform. You acknowledge that to provide the Services, MarkMaster may receive personal information about you from your Partner (where applicable) and may share information about your Application with your Partner, with IP Australia, and (where you request it) with the legal professional you have asked us to refer you to. You consent to these information flows for the purposes of providing the Services. MarkMaster will keep confidential information identified as confidential or that would reasonably be understood to be confidential, and will not disclose such information to a third party except: with your prior consent; to your Partner in connection with the Services; to IP Australia in the ordinary course of an Application; to a legal professional you have asked us to refer you to; or as required by law. MarkMaster is not a law practice and does not owe you the duties that a law practice owes its clients under the Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW), even though the same person operates both MarkMaster and the Brandu Legal law practice. Solicitor-client duties of confidentiality, loyalty and competence will be owed to you only by a legal practitioner you engage to provide Legal Advice (whether Brandu Legal or a practitioner of your own choosing), and only under that separate engagement.
13. Limitation of Liability
Nothing in these Terms excludes, restricts or modifies any consumer guarantee, right or remedy under the ACL or other legislation which cannot lawfully be excluded, restricted or modified. To the extent that liability for breach of an ACL consumer guarantee can be limited, and the services supplied are not of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption, MarkMaster's liability is limited to (at MarkMaster's option) the resupply of the relevant Services or the payment of the cost of having the Services resupplied. Subject to the preceding paragraph, and to the maximum extent permitted by law: (a) MarkMaster excludes all liability for indirect, consequential, special or punitive loss arising from or in connection with your use of the Platform or the Services, including loss of profit, loss of opportunity, loss of data, loss of business, or loss of reputation; (b) MarkMaster's total aggregate liability to you under or in connection with these Terms is limited to the fees actually received by MarkMaster (from you, or from your Partner in respect of your Application) in the twelve (12) months preceding the relevant claim; (c) MarkMaster has no liability for any act, omission, advice or conduct of your Partner (in respect of services outside MarkMaster's scope), of any independent legal professional you engage (whether via a Platform referral or otherwise), or of IP Australia; and (d) because MarkMaster does not provide Legal Advice, MarkMaster has no liability for any loss arising from any decision you make, or any response you lodge with IP Australia, in connection with the legal merits or strategy of your Application.
14. Termination
MarkMaster may suspend or terminate your access to the Platform if MarkMaster reasonably believes you have breached these Terms, engaged in fraudulent or unlawful conduct, or if MarkMaster ceases to provide the Services. Either you or MarkMaster may terminate your use of the Platform on reasonable written notice. On termination, your right to access the Platform ceases. Any outstanding fees remain payable, and any clauses which by their nature are intended to survive termination (including intellectual property, confidentiality, privacy, limitation of liability and dispute resolution) survive. Termination of these Terms does not, of itself, terminate any Partner Engagement or any engagement you have with an independent legal professional.
15. General Provisions
These Terms (together with the Privacy Policy and any other policies referenced) constitute the entire agreement between you and MarkMaster in respect of your use of the Platform. MarkMaster may update these Terms from time to time. When MarkMaster updates these Terms in a way that is materially adverse to you, MarkMaster will present the updated Terms to you for fresh click-to-accept before you are permitted to continue using the Platform. For non-material updates, the updated Terms take effect when published on the Platform; your continued use after publication constitutes acceptance. The version of the Terms applicable to you at any time is the most recent version you have accepted (or, for non-material updates, the version most recently published). If any provision of these Terms is held to be unenforceable, the remainder of the Terms remain in force. A failure or delay in exercising any right does not waive that right. You may not assign or transfer your rights under these Terms without MarkMaster's prior written consent. MarkMaster may assign or novate its rights and obligations under these Terms to a related entity or to a successor in business.
16. Governing Law
These Terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia. You and MarkMaster each irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales and the Federal Court of Australia. Mark Master Pty Ltd (ACN 701 733 977) · Suite 17, Level 3, 1 Mona Vale Road, Mona Vale NSW 2103 · hello@markmaster.com.au