What Is Trademark Registration, How Does It Work In India

 


In the age of constantly growing businesses, trademark registration plays a significant role in signifying the image and goodwill of a company. While trademark registration provides exclusive rights to the owner, making every product or service pretty distinctive from the others in the segment, it also directly leads to the business experiencing some new growth in the profits chart.

To summarize the meaning, Trademark Registration acts as an instrument that protects the business or company's valuable assets like the logo or the brand name from falling into the traps of infringement. In India, trademark registration is governed under the Trademark Act, 1999, which lays down the set of rules, the eligibility criteria, and a detailed process for an owner to get access to the perks of a trademark. However, it is worth mentioning that one should take help from trademark services to have a fluent and bump-less registration.

What Are The Different Types Of Trademarks Which Can Be Registered In India?

In simple terms, a trademark is a brand or a logo that results in differentiation between different products of different businesses. In legal terms, a trademark is intellectual property. In India, the trademark can be a logo, name, tagline, word, image, symbol, or even a combination of all these elements. We have mentioned different types of trademarks that can be registered in India in the listicle down below:

●     Wordmark & Service Marks

Wordmark refers to any mark primarily used to identify the services or the products of a company or business. Similarly, Service Marks refer to any mark used to indicate the services of a business or a company.

●     Shape Marks

Shape Marks refer to the artifacts which are the shapes of a product. Shape Marks are helpful for the differentiation of products based on their shape.

●     Logos & Symbols

Logos or Symbols are the figure, designs, or characters assigned to the business' name and denote information about the firm.

●     Series Marks

The plurality of marks is regarded as Series Marks.

●     Certification Marks

A certification mark registered under Trademark Act, 1999 ensures the conformity with local rules and regulations of the company.

 What Are The Benefits Of Trademark Registration In India?

Trademark registration is very much crucial for a business. No one will like to invest money, time, and hard work to build a reputed brand name only to witness that it is being used by someone else, making the reputation of your 'original' brand fade to black with each passing day. In such cases, owners of a trademark (™) get protected by the laws. Here are some of the significant benefits of trademark registration in India.

●     Trademark provides your brand with a potential and impactful thrust through which the company can increase sales using the brand's reputation.

●     A trademark provides the owner an exclusive right to ownership, ensuring complete protection of the assets.

●     Trademark results in creating IPassets for the company, which are then franchised or contracted commercially without any further issue.

●     Trademark gives the owners a right to sue the person who has used their brand name under trademark infringement.

 What Is The Process For Trademark Registration?

The process of Trademark Registration consists of a total of 5 steps through which one can receive a trademark on their brand name or a product. Though it may look easy, the process is not easy to execute and requires the involvement of trademark services professionals and experts in the field.

●     Trademark Search

 While many people try to overlook the importance of trademark search, it can become the reason behind the rejection of the application in the further steps. Having a good brand name in mind or a logo designed is not enough to get a trademark associated with your company. The first step in the registration process is to look for identical names, logos, or symbols from previously registered trademarks.

●     Filing Application

 After being confident regarding the uniqueness of your brand name or logo, you can proceed to fill out the trademark application. This application needs to be filed at Trademark Registry India. Your application can be the make-or-break part of the trademark registration process. Thus one should consult trademark services who are professionals in this area of work.

●     Documents & Application Verification

 After applying, the verification process takes place. An official examiner conducts the verification. This process will take around 12 to 18 months until you get a final update on your application.

●     Publishing The Trademark in Trademark Journal

The next step is to publish the trademark in a trademark journal. Through this, the authorities invite third parties to claim any objection to the trademark. Once there are no objections in the given period, the authority will give their approval to the application, and the process will move further.

●     Trademark Registration Grant by Registrar

 At last, once all the above-mentioned necessary steps have been taken care of, the registrar will grant a registration certification to the application, which comes with a validity of ten years from the date of the certificate.

Conclusion:

The Trademark Act 1999 is highly beneficial for businesses to look unique and build brand credibility with their consumers. It is worth mentioning that the process and all its technicalities require specific knowledge of the legal field and expertise in the matter to get completed. Thus, having the guidance of trademark services that work prominently in the same area is better when applying for trademark registration. Nevertheless, a team of professionals working for you is better than you filing for a trademark on your own with less information about the scenarios that might occur in the coming future.

 

 


Location: India

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