Trademark Registration

A Trademark is an intangible property that makes your product or service distinct from the others in competitive industry. A trademark can be a Word, Symbol, logo, brand name, tagline or a combination of these and are used by manufacturers or service providers to identify their own products and/or services.  To acquire legal protection for your brand name or logo you need to get it registered

A Trademark is an intangible property that makes your product or service distinct from the others in competitive industry. To acquire legal protection for your brand name or logo you need to get it registered. The owner has the power to enforce it in the case of unlawful uses.

Trademark Act, 1999 permits you to register a trademark in India. It makes way for exclusive ownership rights and restricts all others from its usage and thereby benefits the owner of special rights. The World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) has classified all goods & services under 45 classes out of which first 34 classes denote products and the rest services.

A phrase, word, symbol, device, or even a color are all eligible for a trademark. Anything that distinguishes the goods of your party or company from another qualifies. However, the item must be used in a commercial setting to obtain protection from the law.

While registering for trademark, following are a few categories, which cannot be registered as Trademark and if you do so, your Trademark might get rejected.

 1. Names and surnames: Names or surnames cannot be used as a trademark in India if they do not possess a distinctive character.

2. Geographical Location: Geographical locations cannot be used as trademarks.

3. Smell: Smell cannot go through the process of Trademark Registration in India. It is difficult to distinguish between different smells.

6. Devoid of distinctive Nature: The sign of an item or administration which is not of an unmistakable sort would not be a trademark.

Yes, a Trademark obtained by sole proprietorship can be continued as the same even if it is converted as a One Person Company or Private Limited Company. For that all you have to do is File form TM P or TM M with supporting documents, with prescribed fees. You might need to attach a letter explaining your problem with verification from the person whose name is there on the Trademark certificate.
The Registry will further verify your application and Officer-in-charge may seek any clarification or supporting documents to prove the genuineness of the application. If he is satisfied with your clarification, he will approve of changing the type of business structure.

If the other person has not got the registration for the brand name, then you may apply for the registration of the trademark and claim your ownership over the brand name only in case you are the first user of the brand name for commercial purposes.

 Even in the case where the other person has applied for the trademark, you also may still apply for the same as the first user will have a preference of getting the trademark on his name.

  You should file opposition if he has filed a trademark application for your brand.

 The only condition for this is that you will have to be able to establish the fact that you were the first user of the brand name and not the other person so you need to collect the proof of the usage to help you in future.

The registered trademark is valid for only 10 years from the date of filing of an application. After that one needs to apply for trademark renewal.

1. Private Firms
2. Individuals
3. Companies- Limited Liability Partnership, OPC, Private limited, Public, Partnership, etc.
4. NGOs

Trademark Registration is a lengthy process and it takes around 18-24 months to obtain registration in a straight-forward case, without any objections or oppositions. However, the trademark application number is usually issued within one or 2 days after filing.

Yes, The TM symbol is used when an application for trademark is made with the trademark registry. The TM symbol is thus used to indicate the fact that a trademark application exists with respect to the trademark and serves as a warning for infringers and counter-fitters.