If you’re an entrepreneur or a general legal consultant or a reader who wishes to know about the Intellectual Property Rights in India, then this article may be helpful for you. Here you will get a brief intro and facts related to the Indian Trademark System. The trademark system in India is governed under the TradeMark Act, 1999, where its prime objective is to register and protect the trademark for goods and services. In the context of intellectual property rights in India, patents, designs, GI and trademarks are covered under IP Law where these protect the rights of the inventor, author or original creator for their work.

What is Trademark

In general terms, a trademark is a visual symbol that may be a word signature, numeral, name, device, label, or union of colors to distinguish goods or services of a similar one from other undertakings. Mostly it’s further known as the brand name. And to register a trademark, it should meet the following criteria:

The mark should be graphically representable (As on paper)

It should be able to differentiate the goods and services of one undertaking to another.

Function of Trademark

In the contemporary business system, the trademark has its own importance to identify and Advertise goods and services. It guarantees the perfect quality as of unchanged and also builds a brand value (or create an image) of goods and services of a particular business identity.

Different Types of Trademark

The trademarks can be classified under different categories including – Generic trademark, descriptive, suggestive, arbitrary, service mark and fanciful mark. Below are a few examples for a clear understanding of this.

  • An invented word, or any random dictionary word/words

  • Any name (maybe personal or surname of the applicant) which is not unusual for trade to adopt as a mark

  • Simple letters, numerals or combination of them.

  • Devices including symbols

  • Monograms

In India, the Trade Marks Act 1999 and its rules allow registration and protection, and also the enforcement of the rights related to trademark. The Indian Intellectual Property Law helps the applicant and beneficiary of a trademark to file a lawsuit in case of infringement of the registered trademark.

A Brief Intro of Process of Trademark Registration

Searches

The first step to move further into the process of trademark registration, that an applicant must do a comprehensive search on the internet, or should take the advice of an expert in this matter. For a newcomer, it is advisable that s/he must get a trendy, catchy, and interesting brand name. Don’t stick to a specific name, just do a complete search to ensure that no one is using the same brand name.

Preparing for Application & Examination</b

After the selection of a trademark, now the applicant must move for the preparation of the application via. Online mode. Here applicants will have to submit the supporting documents as well as have to fill the necessary information. The documents could be an identity proof of the company’s director, address proof of company, soft copy of trademark, proof of claim, power of attorney. After that, the applicant will receive the receipt of the acknowledgment. After receiving acknowledgment slip the applicant can use the trademark symbol (™ ) just beside the brand name. In case of rejection of the application, the applicant has another chance to fill the same.

Now after successful application submission, it’s time to examine the same – on this stage the registrar will scrutinize the whole application and check whether the applicant has followed the existing law and term related to the brand (Trademark). There should not be chances of conflict, therefore you should always go through the comprehensive search.

Publication

On completion of examining the process, the registrar will grant permission for publication of the brand name in the Indian Trade Mark Journal. This is a very important part of the Trademark Registration Process, If within 3 months (90 days) there was no opposition is filed then the trademark is allocated to the applicant, other processes begin.

Trademark Registration Certificate Issuance

If no objection raised by any party within the stipulated time frame then the registrar will issue a Trademark registration certificate to the applicant.

fter obtaining a trademark registration certificate applicant is allowed to use the Trademark wherever the applicant wants

Ownership Changes and Right Transfers

Assignment

Trademark assignment is done whenever there is a transfer of ownership from one party to another. And this transfer is done with or without the goodwill of the business. Both types of trademark (registered or unregistered) falls under the assignment category. And this is implemented on the complete or partly basis of goods and services

We’ve gone through one of the intellectual property rights in India so-called Trademark and seen how it could be registered under the Indian trademark system. In case of infringement, section 102,103, and 104 define some sort of offenses, penalties, and procedures. The provisions include imprisonment from six months to three years and a fine not less than INR 50,000 but could go up to INR 2,00,000.

Hopefully after analysing of trademark, now you are able to understand the process of trademark registration and Indian trademark system.