The following is general information only and should not be relied upon as a substitute for obtaining detailed advice or as a basis for formulating business or other decisions.
This depends mainly on the amount of money owed to you. The successful party is in most (but not all) courts entitled to recover 60-70% of their legal costs from the unsuccessful party, leaving the successful party to pay 30-40% of their costs. To decide if it is worth proceeding, the amount of the claim needs to be compared to the anticipated legal costs, and in particular the 30-40% of that cost that will be payable, win or lose.
No. A business name registration simply permits the owner to trade under that name. It does not give the owner any right to prevent any other business from trading under that name. However a trade mark registration (which can be for a trading name) gives the owner the right to prevent any other person using that trade mark in respect of the goods or services for which it is registered.
Employment contracts should contain confidentiality and intellectual property clauses prohibiting an employee from dealing with the confidential information and intellectual property of the employer (especially at the time of leaving that employment) – except with the prior consent of the employer. Depending on the seniority of the employee, restraint of trade clauses (which prohibit an employee from working for a competitor of the employer when leaving that employment) should also be considered.
The conduct of the competing business may be prohibited under Competition & Trade Practices law. If the competing business is also making false or misleading comments about your business, this may constitute misleading and deceptive conduct (also prohibited under Competition & Trade Practices law).
You can protect your business by drawing up a Distribution Agreement for proposed distributors to sign. This will set out what the distributor can and cannot do. In particular it ensures they do not acquire any rights to your trade marks or other intellectual property and it sets out what they are paid in return.