Trade Mark

OVERVIEW

What can be protected as a Trademark?

Generally, a trademark is a visible distinctive word, letter, numeral, drawing, picture, shape, color, a three-dimensional sign, audible sign (sound), an olfactory sign (smell), moving image, a hologram, a taste or texture of a product.

Why to register the trademark?

  1. Itis recommended to register the distinctive marks to get additional methods of acquiring trademark rights.
  2.  The owner of the registered trademark gets exclusive rights to use about the goods and services covered by the registration.
  3.  The proprietor of a registered mark is entitled to take statutory action against infringement. In such cases registration of a mark adds more value.
  4. Registered of a trademark in the Trademark Register is inform the public as to which marks are registered and are not available to use by others.
  5. The main advantage is under the procedure of registration, it is possible for the user of the mark to seek protection for his mark in multiple countries under the Madrid Protocol.

Owner Rights

Unregistered Trademark:

The proprietor of an unregistered trademark can prevent the third party from using his mark provided:

  • He has acquired goodwill to his mark.
  • The act of third party accounts for misrepresentation
  • The proprietor is likely to suffer damages due to this illegal use of his mark.

Registered Trademark:

  • Rights to exclusive use.
  • Rights to claim damages in the court of law against use by the third party.
  • The Right to assign the mark.
  • The Right to seek correction to the registration.
  • Right to alter the registered trademark.

Registration Process

Need of Searching

Why is it required to carry out a trademark search before applying for a trademark?

There are 45 classes in which you can apply for registering your mark based on the type of product/ services you are providing. It is always advisable to carry out a search to check whether your mark can be registered and no one else has applied/ got registration of the same in the same class. This will
1.Save time and money in applying for a trademark that has been either protected /applied by others.
2. It will let you know about the strength of your mark by showing you how many similar marks have been applied for in the market.

Why is it required to carry out a trademark search before applying for trademark?

  • Total Number of applications filed: 336,194.
  • Total Number of trademarks registered: 302,816 (8% total increase than the previous year.
  • Trademark application and the entire process till grant is pretty fast and completes within the time frame of 18-24 months.

TYPES OF TM