“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different”, Every business or company wants to be unique and therefore, always tends to find ways or unique ideas by which they can distinguish their products or creation from that of others. Brand is one such method by which their products stand out from that of others. This is also a way by which they reach out to the general public, in order to persuade them to buy the products they have made. One of the most famous ways to register your brand’s identity is trademark registration. Just like that one can protect its brand’s identity. In this blog we will be discussing various aspects due to which you should register your brand’s identity.
What do you Mean by Brand Identity?
As we have already seen what a brand is now, let’s understand what brand identity is. Brand Identity is nothing but how one can identify a product created by a company. In other words, all elements of a brand which can be seen, such as color, design and logo in totality is nothing but brand identity. It is human tendency to like something which suits the eye (i.e., eye pleasing) and therefore this is the reason that almost all the businesses tend to make their brands as beautiful and colorful as possible. So, the makers try very hard to make their brands look attractive, in order to gain maximum people’s attention, because the more attention, the more will be the sale of the products and more will be the profit. In a nutshell, Brand Identity is the name, logo, use of shapes, colors, language used in advertisement etc. which describe a brand and its important to register your brand’s identity to protect it.
Brand Identity V/S. Trademark
It’s true that trademark registration is one of the ways to protect the brand’s identity but it does not mean both are same and trademark is the only way to protect the brand identity. After reading the above content regarding brand identity, it is obvious that most of the readers might be finding it confusing while comparing it with Trademark. However, to note, trademark and brand identity cannot be used interchangeably and there is a thin line of difference between them.
Brand Identity is a wider term as compared to that of trademark. Trademark is one of the very important parts of Intellectual Property Rights. It is defined as “the sign or expression or logo used to identify one product from another” i.e., to say it is legal right over the logo. However, as discussed above, brand identity includes a logo in it with other visible elements. Trademark offers legal protection to Brand Identity, for which it’s important to register your brand’s identity.
How to Check if Brand Identity is being Used or Not?
Before registering any trademark or brand identity it is very essential to cross check earlier if that particular trademark is being used by someone else or not. This must be done prior to register your brand’s identity, in order to avoid any kind of objection raised. The procedure for this is to visit the main website of Intellectual Property Registration (www.ip.india.gov.in) and select a trademark, and later on related links and public search. Then fill in the wordmark and fill in the class.
There are a total of 45 classes. In order to know which class is applicable to your business, fill in the name of your business activity. For e.g. activity of construction comes under class 37 and real estate comes under 36. If one views a registered trademark carefully, one will find [Ⓡ] Symbol beside it. This symbol is nothing but a proof that the particular trademark is registered and therefore, any infringement of it would lead to the commencement of legal action.
What is the Process to Register your Brand’s Identity?
To register your brand’s identity is done by registration of Trademark and Registration of Trademark is done by filling an online application form. There are many ways to file the same but the best way to register your brand’s identity is by taking help from a professional. Proprietor or a lawyer (or agent) can file an online trademark registration application in order to protect your brand. Some of the important points in order to register your brand’s identity are discussed below:
Key Requirements to Register Brand’s Identity
- Logo of the product in JPEG or Png format,
- Class of trademark registration,
- Digital Signature,
- Basic KYC (pan card or aadhar card),
- Business certificate,
- Payment fee of Rs 4500/- or Rs 9000/- in case of body corporation
Procedure to Register Brand’s Identity
- Visit the main website/portal of Intellectual Property Right i.e. www.ip.india.gov.in and choose related links and comprehensive e-filing services.
- Then the next step is to sign in as a new user.
- In order to sign in: Click on Proceed for Registration and select applicant type (proprietor or attorney or agent).
- Then select Search proprietor name and enter the details of the proprietor like name, email id, address, contact no. etc., subsequent to which a code will be generated.
- Now using this code proceed further by creating your own username and password and login in.
- Select New form filling and File TM.A and individual (if proprietor is applying). Following this, class details have to be filled and submitted.
- Fill relevant information asked, Upload Logo and documents asked, Submit the application form, Make payment as mentioned above
- Secure payment acknowledgement receipt and Application Number which is useful later on to check the application status.
- While filling the form, one will come across an option called category of mask which comprises sub-options such as color, word, shape, device (select device if logo has brand name inside it) etc.
- If one follows all the above given steps, one has successfully registered its trademark.
Conclusion
Each and every individual has a right to protect his or her work, be it small or big. The law makers have kept in mind that no individual must be exploited unnecessarily i.e., fruits should be eaten first by the one, who plants and waters the tree. That is to say, that enough protection is given to companies/ businesses, who work tirelessly to create their unique brand identity, from outsiders trying to copy it. Therefore, if one wants to take advantage of the benefits of this protection given, then Registration of Brand Identity is a must as it helps maintain the uniqueness of a product in the market, hence we have discussed the process to register your brand’s identity in the current blog, hope it will help you.
