When you start a company, you might have multiple intellectual properties that you would want to protect. For example, you might have a unique brand logo or a company name which you don’t want others to use.
Under the Trademark Act, 2016 you can get trademark registration of your logo, name, word, device, label, etc. to ensure they stand unique and are differentiated from other similar logos and names.
After registration is done, your trademarked logo or name becomes your intellectual property, and no one can use it to promote their company or brand.
In this blog we will show how to register a trademark and its benefits.
However, you should know that following things can’t be registered for trademark:
- Logo or name that is similar to already trademarked intellectual property
- Generic names such as geographical names, surnames, first names, common adjectives, etc.
- Pictorial representation that is offensive in nature
- Logo that contains name or visuals of national protected emblems
Importance of Trademark
Trademarks are important for companies to protect their brand identity. It comes in handy for a lot of things.
Here are three benefits of trademark:
- Legal safeguarding: Once you have the trademark for your logo or name, you are authorised to sue the other party for damages if your trademark rights have been infringed. This legal protection is often enough for others to not copy your logo.
- Provides unique brand identity: Trademarked logo or name works as an intangible asset. It provides your company a brand identity, which helps in terms of brand recall.
- Longevity: A trademark is valid for a decade thus giving your logo and name the protection for a really long time. You can again renew the trademark as it reaches the expiration date.
Difference between trademark, copyright, and patent
People often get confused about how trademark, copyright, and patent are different from each other. While all these three are intellectual property rights, their objectives are different and they are meant for different kinds of intellectual properties.
| Trademark | Copyright | Patent |
| Intellectual properties such as logos, names, symbol, device, and colour can be trademarked. | Copyright is required when you want to protect your original work such as writing, art work, music, etc. | Patents are needed when you want to safeguard an original invention of a product, design, chemical formula, software code, machine, etc. |
| Valid for 10 years | Original literary work, music, and artistic work is copyrighted for the artist’s lifetime. Upon their death the copyright is valid for 60 years from the date of demise. | Valid for 20 years |
| Before registering for a trademark, you can use ™ to show yours is a unique logo or name. Once your application is approved the symbol for trademark can be changed to ® | The symbol for copyrighted work is © | No symbol. You can write “Patent Pending” if you have applied and are waiting for approval. |
| Not valid outside India | Valid in countries that are part of “Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works” | Not valid outside India |
How to register a trademark
The Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks, which comes under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, is responsible for trademark registration in India.
Trademark registration process is simple and starts with you having to fill out the application form. The process involves examination of the trademark, publication or advertisement of the trademark, opposition (objections) if raised/ found, registration of the trademark and renewal of the trademark after every 10 years.
Before you start the registration process, it’s important that you do a thorough public search of the trademarks available on the Trademarks Registry website. Once you are sure that there is no similar trademark already registered, you can start the registration process as described below.
- To start with, you will need to create an account on IP India website by clicking on this link. Once you have created an account and logged in, you can start filling out the registration form.
- You will receive an official response from the IP India website.
- Your application will go for a thorough review process by a host of examiners. It might take anywhere between 12 to 18 months for the review to be completed. There are three outcomes of the review process:
- Accepted
- Accepted with conditions
- Rejected
- If your application is accepted, it will be published in the Trademark Journal.
- In case, the IP team has added a few conditions, you need to clear the doubts that the examiners have. All the details will be mentioned in the communication sent to you.
- If your application is rejected, you can apply for a hearing to put your case in front of the examiners. If you manage to convince examiners that your trademark application is valid, it will be published in the Trademark Journal.
- The reason your trademark is published in the journal is to ensure other people get a chance to see that and if anyone has reasons to object to it can do that. There will be a hearing in presence of both the parties along with examiners to ensure the trademark application is valid. If there is no objection for four months, the trademark will go ahead for registration.
- Next, you will receive the registration certificate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are the legal requirements to register a trademark?
Answer: It should be graphically represented on paper. It should be clearly distinguished from the goods or services of other companies.
Q: How much fees do I have to pay for trademark registration?
Answer: To apply for the registration, you have to pay Rs 4,000. To renew your trademark after 10 years, you have to pay Rs 5,000.
Q: Who can apply for a trademark?
Answer: Any person can apply for the trademark, provided he or she is the rightful owner of the proposed trademark. The application should contain the trademark, the goods/services, name and address of applicant and agent (if any) with power of attorney. The application should be in English or Hindi.
Q: What constitutes a valid trademark?
Answer: Any invented word, combination of letters or numbers that are unique, symbols, 3 dimensional marks or signs, shape of packaging, shape of goods, and combination of colours that are unique.
Q: Can I use the ™ symbol even if I have not applied for trademark registration?
Answer: You can use it but there will be no legal recourse if someone uses your unique logo or name. Do a proper trademark search before using the TM symbol to ensure it is not already used by someone else.
Conclusion
Trademark is an important asset to have as it protects your intellectual property from getting misused by others. When you file your trademark application, take proper care to ensure you have provided all the trademark related details. This will benefit you in terms of your application not getting rejected. It’s best if you seek help from an expert to file your trademark application.
