Establishing, defending and internationalising the MyMoney trademark

Challenge

MyMoney Pty Ltd holds one of the earliest Australian word-mark registrations in the personal-finance and business-management space (TM 819051, priority 29 December 1999). A name that plain is a magnet for later applicants in adjacent fields. Across two decades MyMoney faced three separate moments where the trademark had to be asserted rather than simply held: survive its own opposition in 2000, defend against a figurative application in the same class in 2014, and respond to an international figurative mark filed in 2020 that touched its goods and services. Each required a different combination of trademark law, ownership evidence, and — critically — commercial judgment about when to fight and when to settle.

Approach

Classes 35 and 36 were held through the 2000 opposition (Opponent: MY MONEY GROUP LTD, commenced 3 August 2000) with the opposition ultimately withdrawn and the mark registered on 14 May 2002. The registration was later assigned to MyMoney Pty Ltd by deed dated 10 September 2005 and the address for the mark is now Suite 3.10, Level 3, 247 Coward Street, Mascot NSW 2020 — the same address as this firm.

In 2014 a third party applied to register MMH MY MONEY HOUSE as a figurative mark in class 36 (TM 1627186). We filed a Notice of Intention to Oppose on 19 December 2014, lodged the Statement of Grounds and Particulars, and the applicant withdrew the application on 14 September 2015 before any hearing was needed.

In 2021 the international application MMMM MAKE MY MONEY MATTER (TM 2147662, IR 1570181, UK priority 5 May 2020) entered Australia through the Madrid system, targeting classes 9, 35 and 41 — publications, campaigns and education around sustainable investing. We commenced opposition on 19 February 2021. Unlike the 2014 matter this was not a case to push to trial. The UK applicant is a high-profile sustainability campaign with non-overlapping commercial intent, and the sensible outcome was a commercial settlement. Opposition was discontinued on 14 February 2022 and the international registration proceeded to protection in Australia alongside the MyMoney class-35/36 registration.

Outcome

Three distinct results, all verifiable on the public register:

Registration held. TM 819051 remains on the register, last renewed in 2019, with next renewal 29 December 2029.

Defence without litigation. TM 1627186 (MMH MY MONEY HOUSE) was withdrawn by the applicant on 14 September 2015 after opposition, preserving the MyMoney word-mark’s scope in class 36 without a contested hearing.

International coexistence. A negotiated settlement in 2022 allowed the UK-origin MAKE MY MONEY MATTER international registration to coexist with MyMoney’s Australian registration, saving both parties a long opposition hearing and establishing a clean commercial line between the two portfolios.

The combined engagement illustrates the three modes of trademark work the firm specialises in — registration and renewal, portfolio defence, and commercial coexistence — all kept on one desk so that tax, entity structure, and IP strategy stay joined up.