Jill Richards, founder of Honeybiz Australia Pty Ltd, stumbled upon liquid gold when she discovered the healing properties of Manuka Honey. By applying Manuka Honey to her stress induced eczema, Jill was surprised by the results and decided to do some research.
“When my children were small, I had eczema due to stress. My friend suggested using Manuka Honey and it cleared up quickly. I decided to explore the healing properties of Manuka Honey”.
This research led to Jill starting her family-owned business, Honeybiz Australia Pty Ltd. Honeybiz Australia worked with Austrade and was advised to seek protection for her trade marks. Her product line had developed over the years and her natural range of Australian Manuka Honey skin care products had gained a following in Australia and overseas.
THE NEED FOR PROTECTION
With the growing popularity of the Honeybiz products, Jill realised she needed to protect her trade marks and prevent others from copying the Honeybiz idea.
Jill decided to use the name Nature’s Gold for all her products as the leading brand name in the commercial market. The Nature’s Gold therapeutic skin cream with medicinal Manuka Honey is one of the most popular products as it provides relief to various skin conditions from eczema to minor burns and dry and cracked skin. Because of the therapeutic benefits of the product, it is recognised and registered under the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
Like many business owners, Jill wasn’t familiar with the Intellectual Property (IP) world and didn’t want to worry and focus about the particulars of protecting her products.
“IP is a hard area to navigate so to know that Ewen and the Wynnes team is in the background managing our Australian and overseas trade marks is reassuring”.
“When we first started talking to Wynnes, I felt comfortable that they took the time to understand our business and what we needed”.
THE CHALLANGE
When filing a trade mark application, a challenge arose involving a third party. It was crucial for Jill to secure the name Nature’s Gold under Honeybiz Australia’s name.
When discovering that a similar trade mark was already registered, Ewen advised Jill of the options she could take. This ended up in the purchasing of the third party registered trade mark.
“Ewen is great and I need people who will cross the Ts and dot the Is in the background to make sure everything is in order”.
THE RESULT
Through redesigning her products, Jill has noticed a major difference in sales and international recognition. Honeybiz Australia has established metro stores in Singapore and gained over 100 distributer contacts worldwide after a recent business trip.
“Because we are growing so rapidly, it was crucial to keep our IP updated and protected overseas and Wynnes was really efficient in doing so”.
As well as an increase in sales and international recognition, Honeybiz Australia has launched a pet range of products aiming to heal skin conditions on domestic animals and animals in professional sports, such as show horses.
When asked about her experience with Wynnes and if she would recommend Wynnes to others seeking IP protection, she answered, “Of course I would! I felt confident with Wynnes. It is crucial to protect your brand as it takes time, costs a fortune to build and design one. I would hate for it to be copied after all the time and energy I spent on it”.
”When my children were small, I had eczema due to stress. My friend suggested using Manuka Honey and it cleared up quickly. I decided to explore the healing properties of Manuka Honey.
”When we first started talking to Wynnes, I felt comfortable that they took the time to understand our business and what we needed.
”Because we are growing so rapidly, it was crucial to keep our IP updated and protected overseas and Wynnes was really efficient in doing so.
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