A Trademark generally refers to a name, symbol, or words(Tagline, Phrases) that belongs to or say represents Goods, Services, or Brands. It is a type of Intellectual Property. A Trademark is used by a company or individual to create an identity and authenticity of a product in the market. It tells the consumer that this is a particular brand he/she is looking for by distinguishing between the two products.
WHAT IS THE USE OF TRADEMARK?
For example, you want to buy a cold drink. You always prefer Pepsi over Coca Cola and the shopkeeper gives you a Coca Cola instead, you can easily distinguish between the two through labels and logos. That’s how Trademark works.
Trademarks can be in different formats like a logo just like Pepsi, a Tagline or slogan like “Taste the Feeling” or any anthem or lyrics and any possible format.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COPYRIGHT, PATENT, AND TRADEMARK
These three terms seem to be related to each other but they have different purposes. One should not confuse copyright and trademark, copyright and patent, or patent and trademark.
Copyright
It is applicable to a work that originally belongs to someone. It may be an individual or a company. Only they can reproduce, distribute, and perform the work publicly.
Patent
A patent is usually done for any invention or new technology. A patent protects a person’s credit and rights for an invention. The invention or technology may be used by others but the credit always goes to the Patent holder.
Trademark
Trademark is a part of business administration and marketing. It is generally a logo, symbol, phrases, or words that distinguish a product from other similar products. As many brands are available for clothing, shoes, cars, etc. But it’s registered trademarks helps a consumer to identify the product’s brand.
WHY IS TRADEMARK REGISTRATION IMPORTANT?
A trademark represents a company. It is important for any business to choose a trademark for its company. Trademark protects a company as well as consumers’ rights. If two similar products are available in the market, a consumer is more likely to buy a brand that is popular. Here, he will look for the brand’s symbol or logo, which is a Trademark for the company. No company can copy a logo or tagline of another company if the Trademark is already Registered.
For example, Nestle is a company which makes and sells noodles with the Trademark “Maggi”. Maggi is not a company, but Nestle is.
WHAT IS TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT?
Trademark Infringement occurs when a brand’s Trademark (logo, symbol, or tagline) is used by another brand. This leads to a kind of confusion between two products or companies. To better understand Trademark Infringement, let’s take an example.
WWF (World Wildlife Fund) is an organization for wildlife protection and conservation. But it’s a resemblance to the Wrestling sports company WWF ( World Wrestling Federation) led to a conflict between the two. It was not good for Wildlife Fund to share a common Trademark with a Wrestling company. To protect WWF’s Trademark Name, Wildlife Fund appealed against this. WWF was changed to WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) after a 13-year long conflict.
To avoid such conflicts and legal issues, your Trademark should be unique and totally belongs to you. To avoid Trademark Infringement do proper research and make sure your Trademark doesn’t match any other Trademarks. Consult a good lawyer for Trademark Registration.
TRADEMARK DILUTION
A Trademark dilution occurs when two brands who sells same kind of products uses same taglines or not exactly but similar logos. This is not considered as Trademark Infringement, but a dilution.
For example, the word “Magic Masala” is used as a phrase by two popular noodles brands “Yippee” by Sunfeast and “Maggi” by Nestle. This is the perfect example of Trademark dilution. Maggi filed a legal case against using the tagline “Magic Masala” by Yippee. But it was found that the phrase “Magic Masala” is a very common tagline that is used by most of the products in the food industry. The case got rejected.
TRADEMARK LAWS
Trademark must be filed in every country where it needs to be marketed and sold. A US Trademark Registration will not be valid in other countries. Similarly, An Indian Registered Trademark is valid within India only.
The process for Trademark Registration is quite long. It takes the following steps to complete your trademark registration.
- Search for Trademark to avoid any infringement. Make sure that the trademark doesn’t exist already in the Trademark Registry of India or any other country you reside in.
- Then you can apply for Trademark Registration online or offline. It is advised to consult an experienced lawyer if you don’t have any idea.
- After successfully applying for registration, it will take 12-18 months to examine your Trademark. If your Trademark doesn’t fulfill the conditions for registration, you will be given a month to complete the conditions.
- If your Trademark fulfills the conditions, then it will take 3-4 months to publish your Trademark.
- You will get the Registration Certificate.
- Afterward, you need to Renew your Trademark every 10 years.
Moreover, a Registered Trademark is denoted as ® whereas an Unregistered Trademark is simply ™. Sometimes, ℠ is used instead of ™ which means Service Mark and is similar to Trademark.
It is important to Register your Trademark as ™ has no legal value at all. Anyone can use the Trademark anywhere. But wherever you see the symbol ®, it means that the Trademark is registered legally.
If you have any confusion related to your trademark ideas, whether it qualifies for trademark protection or not, or would like to fill a federal trademark application, you can contact an experienced trademark attorney in your area.
Topic Covered:
- What is a Trademark?
- Difference between Copyright, Patent, and Trademark.
- Why Trademark Registration is Important?
- What is Trademark Infringement?
- What is Trademark dilution?
- Trademark Laws. Process for Registration.
