Registration of Trademark by Individual

What is trademark?

A trademark is a unique symbol, name, number, device or label, that a business uses to distinguish its goods and services from other similar goods and services in the market, owned by other businesses. It can be protected under the Indian law, and in order to protect the trademark from getting copied, the business has to get trade mark registered.

The process of trademark registration is done through various steps hence one should hire a expertises to get a trademark registered. The application for trademark can be filed by a person or a legal entity and it’s not necessarily important to file a trademark registration after using the mark but it will always increase the chances, if the mark is used prior, before registration.

Who Should Start this

1) Individual

2) Proprietor

3) Startup’s registered under startup India

4) MSME with MSME/Udyam registration certificate.

Making the trademark registration process look simpler

Safeguard your brand name and logo. Obtain the trademark only in 5 days

1) Simple free online processing

2) Devoted professional and Account Manager

3) Expert conducted an advisory session

Trademarks are the symbols meant for giving identity to products and services of a certain company. Trademarks are crucial for distinguishing products of one from the others. Moreover, it represents brand value. Being acknowledged as an intellectual property right, it protects copyright infringement. Trademark rights are safeguarded through Trademark Act, 1999.

For complete safety about trademark rights, it is quite essential to do registration of the trademark. The prime importance of registering a trademark is to avoid others from copying the symbols and wrongly presenting your mark with others. It, too, is useful in helping out customers identify a specific brand and its worth through a simple sight as the mark of renowned brands.

It is not just about the patents; trademarks don’t possess a certain period of limitation. Though the patents expire in only 20 years, registration of trademark comes with an expiry date post 10 years. The advantage of a trademark is that it can be renewed easily for 10 more years. Most importantly, one can renew the trademark every 10 years as long as they wished. In other words, there is no definite expiry of trademarks.

Technically though, the trademarks get expired 10 years post-registration. Talking about patents, these do get expired in 20 years. However, these can be renewed for 10 more years. As long as trademarks are kept renewed, it doesn’t get expired.

To trademark a Brand Name

Upon doing the trademark of a company's name, it can be ensured that the concerned brand is safe. It assures complete safety of the reputation, creativity, and everything you have invested upon with a lot of dedication, involvement, and passion. The process of trademarking is indeed time-consuming. But, in a competitive era of such, not trademarking can be a foolish thing. There remains every possibility of infringement upon neglecting these tricky aspects. Irrespective of the business's size, it is important to go for a trademark if there is some level of creativity associated. It is possible to trademark any of the following things or the combinations of the same:

1) Number

2) Combination of different shades

3) Phrase or combination of phrases

4) Letter

5) Logo

6) Word

7) Graphics

8) Sound Mark

Trademark Registry

In 1940 trademark registry was established, and it fell under the Trademark Act that got passed in 1999. Trademark registry head office is situated in Mumbai, though it has its branches in Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai. Registration is done as per Trademark Act, 1999, which is registered by the registry of trademarks.

At present, the trademark registry is functioning as the operation or functional unit of the Act. At the same time, it can be claimed as both works in concurrence. Being a functioning unit, the trademark registry executes the entire rules and regulations associated with the nation's trademark regulations.

Who is eligible for an application for a Trademark?

Name of the concerned person specified in the trademark registration form is called the owner after the trademark registration is done effectively. Here any person or company can be the applicant to apply for registration. Be it about an individual businessman, any enterprise, or an LLP can apply for the trademark. They may go for applying to doing registration of the specific trademark.

Trademark registration can be done through a trademark registry. Upon planning for registering a trademark, the below steps are followed.

1. Selecting a trademark:-

It is crucial to select an explicit symbol. Next, it is crucial to identify the concerned class. Classes 1 to 34 do fall under the goods, and those from 35 to 45 do fall under service category. It is crucial to ensure the identification of the class the same belongs to.

2. Finding the symbol:-

Mark's search can be done by own upon visiting Controller General's site for patents, trademarks, and designs. Otherwise, one may go with legal services, which do cost nominal upon trademark being objected. After making selection of the mark, it is suggested that one must conduct a thorough checking to ensure that the selected mark is identified as the mark that has been registered. This can be done by own or simply upon visiting the concerned website of Controller general of patents.

The other way available is indeed about opting or legal aids.

3. Filing of the application:-

Trademark filling can be done in following ways.

a) Trademark filing under “one” class means it will be registered for a certain class selected. Here the form TM-1 is filled, the fee of which is 3,500 INR. One can find the entire amount payable for the concerned forms here.

b) The other way is filing for multiple classes or series trademark, or collective trademark. Here the form TM-A has to be filled in. This form filling does come with a couple of distinct price range.

4. INR 9,000 or INR10,000:-

Individuals, start-ups, and small companies do fall under this. Here an amount of INR 9k has to be paid for e-filling and 10k for doing individually.

5. INR 4,500 or INR 5,000:-

Individuals, start-ups, and small companies also do fall under this. Here INR 4,500 is charged for e-filling and INR 5000 for doing it physically. Complete detail along trademark photo of 9-5 cm is essential to be provided, and five duplicate copies of the same. This can be filed over the web by own or through an agent.

Process of doing online trademark registration

1) Step 1: Find a brand name that is unique-may. Take help of internet:-

Internet is the solution to everything. Naturally, one can take reference of the same to come up with something unique. One may combine a few terms as well to come up with something explicit.

2) Step 2: Making a trademark application ready:-

As mentioned below, documents along application are essential for digital trademark registration.

a) Proof of business registration:-

As per the registered business, the concerned company’s director along address proof must be submitted. For sole proprietors, ID proof, PAN, and Aadhar can be used as well. For companies, their address proof has to be submitted.

b) Trademark's soft company

c) Applicable proof of claim of the supposed mark can be used in other nations.

d) The applicant has to sign a Power of attorney.

3) Step 3: Filing of the application for registration of brand name:-

Those going with manual filling have to submit the same at the Registrar Office of Trade Marks at any nearest cities, be it Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, and Chennai. Acknowledgment receipt can be obtained after 15 -20 days. However, it can be obtained immediately in case of an e-filing system through the government website. Post acknowledgment, one can make use of TradeMark (TM) symbol along with brand name!

If the name is not approved, another chance is given for filling the form without any additional charge. Upon failing to get approval at second trial, the SPICe form can be filed again. Entire process of application and approval takes 2-3 days.

In case it gets rejected not being approved about the name, the applicant can have another chance of filling the SPICe form, which doesn’t require any additional charges. Most people, upon remaining ignorant about the same, often deal with various inconveniences.

4) Step 4: Examining the mode of the brand name application:-

Post application is delivered, the registrars ensure that the specific terms are followed for the concerned brand that it meets with as per law. Above all, no conflict should exist between any present or the brand's name on pending list.

5) Step 5: Doing publication of the brand in the Indian Trade Mark Journals:-

The brand name is published within Indian Trademark Journal post-examination process is followed. It has to be ensured that no opposition is there in 120 days from the publication date. This is when the brand name can be acknowledged.

6) Step 6: Issuing the trademark registration certificate:-

The trademark application is acknowledged if no opposition is made within 90 days of applying. After the certificate is issued, the registered trademark symbol or the * symbol can be used along brand name.

Straight from the time of being issued with the certificate, anyone can make use of the registered trademark symbol along with the brand name. It’s a misconception among many that a separate confirmation has to be made in this regard. Also, no matter whether it’s a beginner level organization or an expert level, the mentioned above process can be followed for all.

After the application's filing is confirmed, an allotment number is issued, through which the application’s progress can be checked. If there is no issue, one should know the status of application in 18-24 months. If there is an issue, the time taken might be longer. One of the advantages of filling the application is that despite not being acknowledged, the TM mark can belong with brand symbol post receipt of allotment number.

It is important to understand that the date of filing gives the priority of the files. When things get delayed, one should understand that greater priority is being given for the same. Most important aspect here is that even if the approval is not obtained, the concerned applicant can still get the TM symbol, which can be even used alongside the mark. On such occasions, all that one needs to ensure is that there allotment numbers available with the concerned applicant.

Registration:-

Trademark registration certificate is issued after approval of trademark. The registration remains effective for 10 years from date of application filing. The trademark can be renewed after 10 years as well.

NB: Trademarks assure security and is accepted in India only, and does not permit any global status.

Trademark laws and its registration are governed through Trademark Act, 1999. Office of the Registrar of Trademarks, under Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Government of India, does handle registration of trademarks in India.

It is important to understand that the trademark is the most important property of any company. This is the most explicit identity that reaches the most loyal customers. This makes it relevant to maintaining the company's brand value in the most significant fashion.

Mentioned below are most important 8 aspects one must know about trademark registration

1. A Visual Representation:-

The kinds of trademark one can get registered with often differ. Below are some of the prominent types.

• 1. Word Symbols
• 2. Shape of Goods
• 3. Geographical Indicators
• 4. Service Symbol
• 5. Logos and Marks
• 6. Three Dimensional Marks
• 7. Sound Marks
• 8. Series Marks
• 9. Collective Trademarks
• 10. Certification Mark
• 11. Pattern Marks
• 12. Colour Marks

2. An explicit Asset:-

A trademark is the most crucial type of intellectual property, coming with numerous advantages for the company. Post-registration turns into an asset that can be used for trading, making business contracts, distributions, etc.

3. Complete assurance against Infringement and Other Legal safety:-

The authority of a trademark that has been registered can have access to the legal rights upon any kind of infringement done with a logo or brand with a functional trademark. The concerned owner holds complete right of suing any other using the trademark without being granted by the trademark owner.

4. Search for trademark:-

A Trademark search is conducted to ensure whether the specific trademark is already there. One can search over Indian Trademark Registry database of the government of India or the site of a third-party service provider.

5. Selection of class:-

There are 45 different classifications for goods and services. Each of the logos is registered as per the concerned class while application is made. Among 45 classes, 34 belong to product classes, and the rest belong to service.

6. It's not Compulsory Registration:-

Trademark registration is done voluntarily. Upon being registered, a trademark holds thorough proof about trademark ownership belonging to someone who tried to register. Entire legal decisions go in support of the concerned party doing registration.

7. Validity:-

Validity of trademark registration is 10 years prior. It gets renewed. The mode of renewal might get started only one year prior registered trademark gets expired. Trademark is discarded upon failing to do the same.

8. Trademark Symbols:-

1) Trade Mark (TM) and Service Mark (SM):-

The symbol states that the trademark is not registered so far, but its application is made. This is to caution other parties not to try infringement. It doesn’t hold any massive legal advantage as the application is not approved.

2) R Symbol:-

Once the trademark is approved, the trademark owner gets the authorization of showing R symbol alongside the trademark. It indicates official registration of a trademark, and any kind of infringement is an offense.

It’s not compulsory to flaunt R mark. However, this safeguards the concerned trademark owner and assures that he/she holds rights of recovering the profit amounts if any outsider infringes with the concerned product. It is so as the court wants the concerned owner to prove that the accused infringer had the knowledge of trademark registration and still went for the same without consent.

3) C Symbol:-

C symbol is an indication of copyright owned by the owner for creative work. It ranges from:

• a) Photography or a piece of art
• b) Work of Videography
• c) Literature works
• d) Software

The C symbol holds lifetime validly containing name of the copyright owner along the year of initial publication in the nation in which it was copyrighted. On a whole, there are many aspects to be aware of as far as trademark registration is concerned. It’s quite a tricky aspect that demands a thorough knowledge of the applicant. Hence, with proper research, one must make the most of it.

Trademark is an explicit symbol that can be a label or a numerical or combination of shades for identifying the goods and services. Trademark registration can be obtained as per Trademark Act, 1999. Through trademark, one can differentiate the product and services of one from the competitor. It is here to note that the names of geographical locations, too regular names, words used in trading, and very common abbreviations can’t be registered as a trademark.

From the third party perspective, trademarks are effective as they let the concerned person distinguish between the products and the services. It is crucial to keep in mind that the names of concerned regions, too traditional or classical names, historical names, or the commonly used graphical representations, can’t be used as trademarks.

Being a unique symbol or sign that contains the names or labels and numerical or combination of all these, maintaining uniqueness can be challenging on some occasions. But, one should not just ignore this aspect. Rather, it is crucial to put some effort and come up with a unique outcome. Unless the unique result is obtained, chances of infringement can never be ignored. And, needless is to say that once it remains vulnerable to get infringed, there remains fear of stealing credits and all. Hence, it is crucial to ensure that the combination is maintained with perfection. One might take help of the expert professionals in this regard as well. After all, it is a matter of reputation and growth; no relaxation should be afforded. Most importantly, this is crucial for businesses of all sizes and dimensions, irrespective of the investment they make.

Other than explicitness, one must ensure that the trademark is convenient to be used, turns product marketable, and gives brand acknowledgment for the product. Trademark registration comes with numerous advantages for the concerned owner as follows.

1) Legal safety:-

Trademarks are considered as intellectual properties and thus gets infringement protection. Trademark registration also provides sole authority for trademark use about the goods’ and services’ ‘class’ represented by it. Post trademark application is filed, the ‘TM’ symbol can be used along with product. The mark ‘R’ can be effective only after trademark registration is obtained. Additionally, the ® symbol can be used solely for those goods and services mentioned over registration certificate. During illicit usage of a registered trademark, one may seek safety through a concerned court or legal institution of the nation.

2) Product distinction:-

Trademark registrations are unique for the products and services they belong to. Trademarks do distinguish your product from that of the competitor. Moreover, as the trademark registration remains authentic for the whole range of products and services, it can effectively distinguish products from each other. Customers explicitly distinguish products with distinct trademark, hence establishing a customer base for the concerned product and service.

3) Brand acknowledgment:-

The effectiveness of a product, its qualitative aspect, specs, etc. are related by the customers with its parent company. Here the products are identified in terms of logos that are primarily registered trademarks. Trademark registration acknowledges brand for its products and services. It also maintains a good impression of the brand. Hence the brand is acknowledged and holds market worth for a certain period. It welcomes fresh customers and maintains established customers.

4) Developing asset:-

Trademark registration sets a property for a business group. Trademark is acknowledged as an associate property for income tax and accounting. These are intellectual properties and do hold worth concerned with products represented by them. One can sell the trademark, put under franchise, allotted or financially explored in any other fashion. The worth and expenses related to trademarks in account books and demand reduction for depreciation and acknowledge earning from the same can be recognized.

5) Business worth and reputation:-

Trademark registered and related to the product improves the cumulative business worth, reputation, and net earnings in the industry. The trademark reflects the qualitative aspects, explicit specs, and the prime aim of the organization. Trademark plays a key role in facilitating business growth. It’s useful in terms of maintaining a loyal customer base and safeguarding business reputation.

6) Trademark acknowledgment:-

Trademark registered in India is applicable for ten years from the filing date of application, though it can be further renewed. If the trademark has to be used outside India or expanded, approval in the concerned nation is essential. On these occasions, the trademark registration and Indian business act like a base for registering outside India.

7) Business growth:-

A trademark sets a relation between the customers and the products of an organization. Through exclusive products, one can develop a customer base. The trademark is useful in maintaining and expanding customer base; Trademark registration gives exclusive rights for 10 years and safeguards business earning. Business groups can make most of customer base by bringing new products and doing expansion business.