Trademark

Trademark

A trademark is a intellectual property consisting of recognizable sign, expression or design which identifies particular product or services from other. A trademark can be owned by a individual, business organization or  legal entity. A trademark can be located on package label or organization. Trademark is an intellectual property that is used to differentiate products and services of one firm or individual from others. A trademark is an unique identifier for a product or a firm. Owner of a trademark can pursue legal action for infringement of trademark.

The symbols ™ (the trademark symbol) and ® (the registered trademark symbol) can be used to indicate trademarks; the latter is only for use by the owner of a trademark that has been registered.

 

Trademark designation

1. ™ (the “trademark symbol”, which is the letters “TM” in superscript, for an unregistered trademark, a mark used to promote or brand goods)
2. ℠ (which is the letters “SM” in superscript, for an unregistered service mark, a mark used to promote or brand services)
3. ® (the letter “R” surrounded by a circle, for a registered trademark)

Trademark Styles

A trademark is usually a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image, or a combination of these elements. Offensive trademarks are rejected by nation’s trademark laws. When a trademark is used for a specific services then it is usually called as service mark

Trademark Register

Trademark registry was established in 1940. Trademark registry implements trademark rules and laws within India. Head office of trademark registry is located in Mumbai and it has regional offices at Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Kolkata. Initially trademark get registered under trademark act 1999 and then it is registered under trademark registry. Trademark registry make sure that all conditions of trademark act are met with an trademark application before registering it.

Trademark act 1999

Before 1940, there was no law to protect trademarks in India. In 1940, Trademark law was passed in India to protect intellectual property of individuals as well as organizations. The trademark law was replaced with trademark and merchandise act 1958. This act provided protection against fraudulent use of trademarks by any other party.

Trademark and merchandise act 1958, was replaced with Trademark act 1999. This act was in conformity with TRIPS framework designed by WTO. The main aim of this act was to provide provide protection to user’s trademark. The trademark act 1999 provides right to police to arrest any individual who is involved in infringement of trademark. This act has increased time duration for registered trademark and also paved way for registration of non traditional trademarks.

Trademark Registration/Trademark search

A trademark is registered against name of individual or company whose name is mentioned as applicant during trademark registration. Any individual, company or LLP firm can be a applicants in filing trademark registration.

Registration of trademark is done by trademark registry. Following steps are involved in registering a trademark in India-

• Selection of trademark – Selection of a trademark is very important step in trademark registration. Trademark selected should be a unique as well as distinctive. It is also important to identify class in which your trademark belongs. Currently, there are 45 classes of products and services under which trademark can be registered.
• Trademark search – Trademark search is next step in trademark registration. Trademark search, trademark public search, trademark name search are one and same thing. It is extremely important to perform this search initially.  You can either do this yourself by going to the online website of the Controller general of patents, designs and trademarks. On the website, you can find an option to do a public search. Once click on this option you need to choose your class and search the online database. Trademark search should be done thoroughly as it can prevent legal costs that can arise later due to objection on trademark selected.
• Filing trademark application – There are two types of trademark application. In first type of application, you file trademark under only one class. application for trademark filed only under one class is known as TM-1. You can access TM-1 here. In other case, you have option to file trademark for multiple trademark classes. For filing trademark application for multiple trademark classes, one need to fill form TM-A.  Fees for trademark registration varies from Rs 3500 to Rs 9000

We would continue to write more informative articles related to trademark in India. Topics such as trademark search, trademark benefits, trademark registration, trademark classes etc. would be discussed in great details. Meanwhile, you can read more about informative articles on various trade licenses in India.