All things being equal, the safest time for you to use a trademark is when it has been fully registered with IP Australia. The risks associated with using the trademark during the registration process have been mentioned above. Still, you should also be aware that even if you have had notice from IP Australia via the pre-filing assessment that your application will be successful, there is a possibility that someone will notice your application and oppose the trademark. While this is not a particularly common occurrence, it does happen. Therefore, where viable, we would encourage clients to minimise any costs associated with the promotion of the trademark – such as radio and television advertising and online marketing, branding on products – until we have confirmation from IP Australia that their trademark has been registered. However, as noted above, we do appreciate it is simply not viable for all businesses to hold off any promotion for seven months, which is why it’s particularly critical to conduct as much due diligence before formally selecting a brand for your business to ensure the risk of use without full registration in place is low.