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Aug 14

HOW TO CHECK IF A TRADEMARK IS REGISTERED IN INDIA?

HOW TO CHECK IF A TRADEMARK IS REGISTERED IN INDIA

TRADEMARK

The Intellectual property awareness is steadily increasing in Indian business for the past few years. the trademark registration has been tremendously increasing with the venture of new business and its strategies. It is essential and necessary for the new business to register their trademarks and should be aware of filing their trademarks.

A trademark is a unique symbol or word which are used to represent once a business or its products. It comes under the Intellectual Property Rights of a Company. The Intellectual Property Rights include

  1. Trademark
  2. Copyright
  3. Patents

Once, the trademark (symbol or words) is registered means further the same trademark cannot be used by another organization. It is considered to be void.

SYMBOL

            The main two symbols which are associated with Indian Trademarks include

TM = The Trademark Symbol

= The Registered Trademark

The COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF PATENT DESIGNS AND TRADEMARK is the authority and controller of registered trademarks and its registration in India.

TRADEMARK vs BRAND

ALL TRADEMARKS ARE BRANDS BUT NOT ALL BRANDS ARE TRADEMARK

  • The two terms “Trademark” and “Brand” should not be used interchangeably because they have major differences
  • A brand is a corporate image that builds over time and is a reputation of quality whereas the Trademark is legal protection of the brand which is granted by the Trademark and Patent Office
  • Brands consist of the number of elements. They include
  • Identity
  • Image
  • Personality
  • Character
  • Culture
  • Essence
  • Reputation
  • If a brand is not registered, other people can use it without fear of penalty but Trademark is not so.

TRADEMARK SEARCH

To search whether the Trademark s registered in India or not, go to the Trademark search database using the web browser and follow the steps given below.

  1. Select the wordmark as the type of search at the top of the page
  2. Enter the wordmark which you would like to search the trademark database and this can be compared against the search query on three conditions [i.e] “start with”, “contains” and “match with”
  • Start with – It will display all the entries in the trademark search database that start with the value provided for search
  • Contains – It will display all the entries in the trademark search database that contains the value provided for search.
  • Match with – It will display all the entries in the trademark search database that matches with the value provided for search
  1. Enter the class of trademark that is applicable. It is divided into 45 classes representing a distinct group of groups or services.
  2. Click search to begin the trademark search

A trademark search could bring up a number of matches. If trademark search returns “No matches found” then there are no registered or applied trademarks. It is important to note that for a trademark to be registered, it must not be similar to any existing trademark.

The term of registration of a trademark is 10 years which can be renewed for a further period by paying the prescribed renewal fees.

“Your smile is your Logo

Your personality is your business card

How you leave others feeling after an experience with you

Becomes your Trademark”

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