Intellectual Property Rights give protection to your invention or creation. This means that no one can copy the product you have made with your intellect. Only you and no other person has right over it. There are many Intellectual Property Rights like the Copyright registration, Trademark registration, Patent registration, Geographical indication etc. These give the right of ownership on different products. In this blog we will talk about Trademark and E- Registration of trademarks in detail.
What do you mean by Trademark Registration?
Trademark is one of the important Intellectual Property Rights in the business world. A product is known by its tagline, brand name or logo in the business industry. This is different for different products. For eg. the logo of Coca Cola varies from that of Pepsi. The protection given to such identifications is called trademark protection. This means that no two businesses can steal each other’s trademarks after they got protected under the trademark law. For this purpose registration of trademarks is a must. The Registration process can be done by online mode which is called E- Registration of trademarks.
Things to keep in Mind before Doing Trademark Registration
Any person can do the E- Registration of trademarks while sitting at home. However, it is better to take help of a Lawyer or an Advocate. This is because there are certain things which only lawyers are aware of. Therefore, a common man can make mistakes during registration of trademarks. Hence to avoid this, consulting a professional is beneficial. There are some things which have to be kept in mind before registering for a trademark. Those are given below:
- The one making the logo or symbol, must be careful and be sure that it is unique. This is because the majority public differentiate one product from another looking at its logos. Therefore make sure your trademark is different.
- Remember that the trademark should not be so descriptive. That means it should not express everything about the goods and services. This raises high chances of registration applications to be rejected.
- There are some symbols or logos which are not allowed to be used. We must be cautious about not using it as a trademark.
- Before Registering make sure that the trademark is already not being used by some other person. Because, then that person can object and file a case against you. Hence, to avoid this, cross- check the trademark beforehand.
Legislation Dealing with Trademarks
There are certain Indian laws which explain rights over trademarks. This is the Trademark Act, 1999 and Trademark Rules 2017. These laws also talk about the registration of trademarks in India. Moreover, there are certain international treaties too, which comprises trademarks and its registrations. India is a party to these treaties. The names of treaties are given below:
- 1883’s Paris Convention for the Protection of IP that is intellectual property
- Madrid Agreement and Protocol.
- TRIPS agreement, also called Trade related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
- Nairobi Treaty which gives protection to the Olympic Symbol (i.e., 5 rings).
Process for E- Registration of Trademarks
Follow the steps given below in order to complete the process of the online registration of trademarks:
Initial Steps of E- Registration of Trademarks
- Initiate the process of registration by visiting the main website or we can say portal of Intellectual Property Right i.e. www.ip.india.gov.in
- Now 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 Application Form
- Fill relevant information asked
- Upload Logo and documents asked
- Submit the application form
- Make payment as mentioned above
- Secure payment acknowledgement receipt
- Also secure application number which is useful later on to check the application status.
Vienna Codification Process
This process is used if the trademark consists of some figures etc. Then its codification is done by the Vienna Codification process. After this the application for E- Registration of trademarks is forwarded for examination. This step is particularly not general in nature, hence you will need to do that in specific trademark registrations.
Examination of Trademark
Now the application form is sent to the verifying officer. The officer checks all the information of the application. He also sees if laws are followed during the process. Once he is satisfied then he approves the application form. The application is then marked as Formality Check Pass. The form is then sent to the Trademark registry. The registry then makes a report after the examination. That report consists of whether the application form is rejected or accepted.
Publication
Publication is done in the Journal of the trademark registry in order to do the successful registration of the trademark. The Trademark registry then waits for 4 months for objection. If no one raises the objection, then the certificate of registration is successfully granted. This is done in order to protect the right of the other person who may have registered their trademark already.
How to track the status of Trademark Registration
In order to track the application for the E- Registration of trademarks, one needs to follow the simple steps given below:
- First go to the official website of Trademark Registry.
- Click on Trademark Application
- Enter the Application Number which was granted after successful registration.
- A security code too will be provided.
- After entering the information of the application the current status will be seen on your screen.
- This is how one can check the status of the E- Registration of trademarks application
Benefits of E- Registration of Trademarks
The trademark registration is very beneficial for the business. By registering a trademark the business can protect its logos or symbols. So indirectly it is the protection of the identity of the company. No one can dare steal the logo or symbol, if it is already registered. And even if anyone does then action can be taken against the wrongdoer. Trademark registration is valid for a period of ten years years. However it can be renewed after the expiry of 10 years. For this a renewable application must be filled. This renewable is there for 6 months prior to expiry.
Conclusion
E- Registration of trademarks is not mandatory, however, if the trademark remains unregistered then businesses can deprive themselves of many benefits. They include a unique identity. The trademark can be registered online as well as offline. Online registration or E- registration is beneficial and easy. Also a certificate of registration can be obtained within a few days. However, if a trademark is registered offline then it takes lots of time. Hence, businesses prefer E- registration over traditional methods of registration.
