Sound Board

Our thoughts and views on the practice of Intellectual Property in India and around the world.

The Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) passed an order a couple of days back, which brought on record the problems faced by trademark proprietors with the functioning of the Trademark Registry.

In Utopia, I believe competition among similar businesses would be healthy and fair. However, in the real world, the Darwinian principle of survival of the fittest applies. We find that some wonderful businesses, with unique and sometimes well-established brands, end up in shambles because their owners did not take the right steps at the right time to protect those brands. So, the proverbial cheats prospered, right? Not really. Everything boils down to what someone rightly said “If you don’t…

The appellant is a company incorporated under the Companies Act in the year 1992. M/s Mano Pharmaceuticals Private Limited is a Division of the appellant’s company for which an agreement was entered into by the two companies, in 2003. Subsequently, M/s Mano Pharmaceuticals Private Limited had filed an application under the Trade Marks Act, 1999 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) for registration of trade mark ‘METO’. A request on Form TM-16 was filed to amend the name of the applicant to…

I wish there was an easy answer. Unfortunately there isn’t. Indian Trademarks Law allows filing of multi class applications. If you are using a counsel you may be advised by your counsel to file single class applications, not because he wants to bill you more; because the benefits of single class application outweighs few bucks saved by filing a multi class application.

If you had filed your trademark application on paper in India with specification of goods or services exceeding 500 characters and if an application requesting inclusion of additional characters was not filed at the time of filing the new application for registration of your trademark, a TM-61 alert will be displayed on the online status page of the Indian Trademark Office as shown below.

A trademark that has been registered is valid for the goods or services that it has been applied for.If I file a trademark WONKZOO for legal services, aside from the fact that I may be committing professional suicide I need to decide which class of goods I have to file the trademark in. A trademark can be applied for, in one or more classes.Figuring out what specifications to apply the trademark for requires a certain amount of planning and thought.

An application for registration of a trademark in India can be filed by either claiming use of the trademark in India or on a proposed to be used (intent to use) basis. Subsequent to publication and in the absence of opposition the application would proceed towards registration. Unlike in the US, proof of usage of the mark in India is not a pre requisite to the grant of registration of the trademark. The usage claimed in the application needs to be bona-fide and supported with documentary…

While the Indian Trademark Office has been constantly trying to complete the mammoth task of clearing several thousands of trademark applications pending before it at various stages of prosecution, fulfilling the following steps would help you to protect your trademark in India quickly and cost effectively.

While we are all excited about India becoming a part of the Madrid System on July 08, 2013 there are serious concerns on how the Indian trademark office already struggling with delays and quality of examination going to cope up with the new international applications. Among other issues such as Central Attack and whether an application can be filed in India by a foreign lawyer the following are some practical issues that the Government should have looked into before giving false hopes.

After a long wait, we have the names of the winners of the Blogging Competition. Congratulations are in order for: