Corporate & Commercial

Intellectual property

Your brands are integral to the success of your business locally and overseas. Whether you are developing a new brand or building on long-established success, you need to choose well and protect your investment.

A brand can carry many meanings for your business but, at its simplest level, it is a trade mark - a means of identification. It signifies that all goods bearing the trade mark come from a single source and allows a company to distinguish its goods from those of its competitors.

A brand also conveys the quality and characteristics of a product or service and your marketing will define how your brand is viewed by your customers and clients.

It is important to remember that a brand is also intangible property that can be bought and sold, just as easily as land, buildings and machinery. Brands can be worth a lot of money, particularly if they have an international reputation.

As they are the unique representation of your business, your brands should be treated with even more respect than other, more obvious, forms of property.

Order a full copy of the Winegrowers' Legal Guide.

Enquiries and information

For more information about the Winegrowers' Legal Guide, please contact:

David McGregor
Partner, Auckland

Philip Gregan
NZ Winegrowers