Trade marks

Trade marks is governed by The Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958. It provides for the registration and protection of trade marks and also prevention of misuse of such marks.

Meaning of Mark : Mark means any symbol, device, brand, heading, label, ticket, name, signature, word, letter or numeral or any combination thereof.

Meaning of trade mark : Trade mark means a mark used in relation to goods for the purpose of indicating a connection in the course of trade between the goods and some person having the right as proprietor to use the mark.

Certification trade mark : It means a mark used in the course of trade in relation to goods certified by any person in respect of origin, material, mode of manufacture, quality, accuracy or other characteristics.

Requisites of a trade markshould be easy to speak, spell and remembershould be simple in design as well as attractiveshould be distinguishableshould express desirable qualities of merchandiseshould be possible to be affixed on goodsshould be different from other trade marks of the same class of goodsshould be capable of being registered and protectionshould contain one or more invented words

Registration of trade mark

Any person claiming to be the proprietor of a trade mark and desirous of registering it, shall apply in writing to the Registrar of Trade Marks in the prescribed manner. The Registrar shall after perusing the application and if found in order, register the same and issue certificate.

On registration, the registered proprietor of the mark gets exclusive rights to use the mark.

Infringement of trade mark If a person not being the registered user of a trade mark or permitted in any manner, uses a mark which is identical with or deceptively similar to the trade mark, in the course of trade in relation to the goods for which the mark is registered, then he is said to have infringed the trade mark.

Remedies in case of infringement Where a trade mark has been infringed, a suit can be filed in the District Court having jurisdiction and the following remedies can be soughtInjunction to restrain further infringementDamages for the loss suffered.Destruction of infringing labels or marks