Sound Board

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

It is human nature to take credit of his hard work, especially in today’s times where there is cut throat competition; Man wants to carve a niche for himself in any field he plunges into. Man wants to stand out in a crowd and leave a mark of his identity and distinctiveness. He wants to convey a message to this world to the effect that, the feat he has achieved is something which is not achievable by everyone. In the field of trade in particular, quality is of utmost importance because a…

In today’s world, where consumers purchase products not based on quality or usefulness, but instead are carried away by the brand name and trade symbol which accompany the product, protection of the distinctiveness of a trademark is of the utmost importance. Trademark dilution is a claim which the owner of a famous trademark can make to prevent others from using a mark which decreases the value or distinctiveness, or tarnishes the reputation, of the famous mark. Many scholars argue on whether…

The respondent, Malhotra Book Depot was a partnership firm which registered the mark MBD on November 23, 1970. The registration was subsequently renewed once in 1977. Over the years the partnership changed twice and when the most recent partners applied for a legal use certificate of the trademark registration (certified information of the mark from the Trademark Office). They were informed that there was no information of the trademark registration on the records of the trademark office…

Going through over thousand trademarks published each week in the Indian Trade Marks Journal is a rather cumbersome task, but the marks that you come across in there sometimes are very interesting. Some unique, some brilliant and some down- right hilarious.

The Selvam and Selvam blogging competition is open to students interested in trademarks and trademarks law.

One question I am often asked regarding trademarks whenever I discuss IP law with a group of young budding students, entrepreneurs or startup companies is "How to register a trademark in India?". There are several articles and blogs that explains how to register a trademark in India in one way or the other but I hope that this post will be comprehensive enough to answer most of them.

A common misconception among many entrepreneurs is that they should use a name that best describes their business, products or services. Their intention is to enable customers to easily remember them. Some tech businesses use generic names so as to increase web traffic on key word searches. However, having a descriptive or generic name for your startup, products or services is not a good strategy for your growing business. The name you select should score high on the degree of protectiveness.…

There are several resources online that will tell you how to register your trademark in India, with a neatly drawn flow chart for clarity and some websites that promise trademark registration in a day or even faster. What you won’t be told is the time that it will take you from one step to another on that flow chart and the constant tussle you have to face with the trademark office.

When you file an application for registration of a trademark you need to mention the list of goods/services for which you intend to use the trademark. India follows an international system of classification of goods and services called the "Nice Classification" according to which the goods and services are categorized into 45 classes, with goods covered in classes 1 to 34 and services covered under classes 35 to 45.