TRADEMARK REGISTRATION IN INDIA

TRADEMARK REGISTRATION: Niharika Raghuwanshi

Trademark

Trademark basically means the name, logo, and the tag lines by which the things are recognized or which indicates the particular brand of the product, protection of the trademark in India is recognized by the Indian Trademarks Act, 1999 and is also governed in India under Trademark Rules 2002.

 It is seen in many other forms, it can be the combination of a logo, symbol, brand, of a particular thing or all these things separately also, Trademark is usually used for the purpose of protecting one’s innovation from the competitors or can say is also used for increasing the awareness related to the brand in the market as the brands are many with not same but similar identifications so, in order to avoid the confusions related to the product this specific identity is allotted which becomes one of a kind and nobody can use it otherwise.

History

Firstly the concept of Trademark aroused in India in 1940 wherein 1958 became the year where the big and drastic changes were seen in Trademarks when it came under the TRIPS agreement. After this, the main sort of changes or the finalized version came in 1999, and lastly in 2000 Trademark rules were laid down in order to manage and avoid piracy-related works or to stop the exploitation which got prevalent and was not treated as a matter of concern in our country.

Types of Trademarks

Read Also: Trademark Registration Requirements in India

• Product Trademark – It is basically assigned for a specific product of the brand so that nobody can copy the style used, the names decided, or any sort of uniqueness that makes that product stand out among a variety of similar things present in the market.
• Service Trademark– Any company or an organization indulged in service providing business or known as the service providers, who are providing or giving services to their customers, they can make the utmost use of the trademark by registering their ways, their services to safeguard their entity
• Collective Trademark– It is the type where a group of organizations or the people collectively get their innovation registers so the people working in the same field cannot make the use of things that are already certified in the name of their firm.
• Certification Trademark– It is generally used for ensuring the standard of the product whether it is up to the mark or not based on certain grounds of quality, efficiency, and whether the product is generated following the norms or the ecofriendly methods. It is a kind of a mark that is provided or is a clarifying symbol for the general people who can rely upon the grade of whatever they are purchasing.

Advantages of registering Trademark

Acts as an Identification symbol- People of the society can identify the brand, the firm only by looking at the logo printed on the material they produce such as Nike a sports brand that has a right tick symbol registered and is printed on every garment they make, every shoe they produce. So only by looking at this tick mark, anybody can point out that this is the Nike brand.

Removes Confusion-Helps in removing the uncertainty or confusion among the buyers so that they can purchase actually what they want to and can follow the brand they love without any hesitation they can go out and purchase that product, by this customer remains happy and feels fully satisfied after spending any amt of money.

Big brands need their mark under which they can operate their functions, trademark registration facilitates the transactions and also helps in creating awareness among different people living in the society.

This certification process helps in making the outcome different, dissimilar, and non-identical from the options already prevailing in the market.

Registration Procedure

Step 1– Firstly Selection of the trademark is done by the way of researching, knowing about the Alike products existing in the marketplace, and what all are the kind of marks they are using. Trademark you are willing to choose should be different and unique which is not been used before for any purpose either globally or within the country. Expert lawyers can help in conforming to this easily who has expertise in the matter of Intellectual Property Rights.

2 – There is trademark 1 form which is necessary to be filled for the completion of the registration process which consists of mainly the Mark to be registered decided by you for your product or brand, Information of the owner is also asked as in who’s the creation and in who’s name particular registration is taking place and also it is required to disclose that what all will be the goods and services entitled under this registration, The lawyer’s fee as well the general fee is mandatory to be paid, this full activity can take 2-3 days and the sum of 4000-5000Rs.

3 – Either online or offline ways can be used in filling up the form for getting your trademark registered, Digital Signatures of the owner is important in online mode while in the offline format your nearest trademark office is the right place to visit.  The original procedure will start after the application form is submitted with all the details mentioned.

4 – After this Registrar’s in the office will go through the application filed and verifies the mark provided, the proper verification procedure is conducted in order to maintain the rhythm of protection under the act and if after this any similarities found then the registrar will request the owner by the way of written communications to make some changes in order to make their mark distinctive from the other one already certified, for this period of three months is given.

5- when all the forms are submitted, verification is done and the trademark is ready to be registered under a particular class or the group, class means the products, but then the owner wants the same name or trademark for two different classes than for every class separate application is to be filled and separate cost will be paid for a single application.

6- The image of the logo should be attached at the time of making the application and filling out the form, after this registration confirmation will be given along with the Application Number.

7- Issue of Objection if arises then a lawyer has to be hired who will draft a letter for claiming that dissimilarities the trademark has from the other product.

8 – Trademark registered will be published in the Advertisement Trademarks Journal within 3 to 6 months from the period of the verification and after that, all the companies are free to check it and to raise their objections, if no such issue arises then your trademark will be registered for the coming ten years with a No objection certificate.

9 – Registration of trademark certificate generally takes more than ten months but one’s it get certified it can be used without any interference for the upcoming ten years.

Trademark Registration In India