Trademark Registration Online in India - An Overview

A trademark can be defined as the unique identity that makes your product or service stand out from the rest. The unique identity or expression can be a logo, photograph, slogan, word, sound, smell, colour combination or graphics. Most of the businesses usually look for registration of logo or name only. If you have come up with a unique idea or logo, then the only way to protect it as your own unique identity is to register it as a trademark. A registered trademark is your business’s intellectual property or intangible asset.

• A Legal Protection: In case you doubt that your trademark is being copied by anyone else, you can take up the issue legally and sue them if you have registered your logo, brand name or slogan.
• Get Your Unique Identity: Customers will identify a particular product or service only with the brand. Registering a trademark ensures that competitors will not use it and hence it remains as a company’s unique asset.

Trademark Objection - An Overview

A trademark is a logo, symbol, tagline, or a combination of these that represents a brand’s identity. Oftentimes, during the trademark registration process, the Trademark Registrar raises objections on the intended trademark if it violates rules and laws of trademark registration. It could be due to several reasons like similarity with an existing trademark, offensive to a particular religion, absence of a distinct design, etc. In the event of a trademark objection, a comprehensive reply needs to be filed within a month, from the date of issuance of the objection.

When the examiner raises some objections regarding the registrability of your trademark it is said to be objected. To overcome the objections, a written response needs to be filed with the Trade Mark Registry. If the Examiner is not convinced with the written response, a hearing is scheduled for allowing arguments to be put forth in person.

Design Registration

Design registration is a type of intellectual property protection, under which a newly created design applied to an article created under an industrial process can be protected from counterfeiting. Under the Design Act, 2000, a shape, configuration, pattern or ornament or composition of lines or colour or combination applied to any article can be registered. For a design to be registered, it must satisfy the following conditions: it must be new and original, the design should relate to features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament applied to an article, the design must be applied to any article by an industrial process and the design must be visible and should appear on an article.

Design registration provides the creator, exclusive rights over use of the design for a period of ten years, that can be further extended for a period of five years. In case of infringement, the owner of a registered design can seek legal remedy under the Design Act.

Copyright Registration in India - An overview

By law, copyright is the legal right entitled to creators of literary, dramatics, music, and artistic work and producers of films and recordings. When a proprietor registers for a Copyright, it gives him an exclusive right to reproduce, replicate, and distribute the work. Further, he can grant authority to some other entity for the same purpose. Register for copyright because it makes you communicate to the public, reproduce rights, and adapt & translate the works.

Copyright is a right to ownership and enjoyment given by the law to creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works and producers of cinematograph films and sound recordings. It is a bundle of rights comprising of rights to reproduction, communication to the public, adaptation and translation of the work. Copyright ensures certain minimum safeguards of the rights of ownership and enjoyment of the authors over their creations, thereby protecting and rewarding creativity.