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Trademark Search in India: Complete Procedure

· Trademark,Trademark Search,Govt Registration
Trademark Search in India

What is a Trademark?

A Trademark generally refers to a “brand” or “logo”.

Trademark registration can also be obtained for a business name, distinctive catchphrases, taglines or captions.

Properly used and promoted, a Trademark may become the most valuable asset of a business. Trademarks such as Coca Cola, HP, Canon, Nike, and Adidas serve as an indication of the origin of the goods as well as an indication of quality.

It is also essential to obtain trademark registration for the business name/trade name under the Trademarks Act. Registration of a company or business name under the Companies Act does not in itself give protection against others who might commence using identical or similar marks.
Use of TM, SM, and ® symbols

'TM' stands for Trademark and 'SM' stands for Servicemark. The use of TM and SM symbols notifies the public that the company is claiming exclusive ownership of the trademark and can generally be used by one who has filed a trademark application.

The ® symbol, can be used only once the trademark is registered and the registration certificate is issued. Also, you may use the registration symbol only in connection with the goods and/or services in respect of which the trademark is registered.

The registration process is the same for both trademarks and service marks.

Which Act and authority govern Trademark in India?

In India, the Trademarks Act 1999 governs all aspects of the protection of trademarks. There is no separate governing law for the protection of trademarks online. However, the official Indian registry for domain names is. IN Registry, which operates under the authority of the National Internet Exchange of India.

What are the benefits of having a registered trademark for the brand or the company?

Exclusive Rights:
The owner of Registered Trademark enjoys exclusive rights over the trademark. The owner can use the same for all the products falling under the class(es) applied. Further, the owner can enjoy the sole ownership of the Trademark and can stop others from the unauthorized use of the Trademark under the same class where it is registered. It gives the right to sue the unauthorized use of the Trademark Registered.

Builds trust and Goodwill:
The established quality of your product and services are known by everyone through the trademark and which establishes trust and goodwill among the customers in the market. It helps in creating permanent customers who are loyal and always opt for the same brand.

Differentiates Product:
It makes easy for customers to find your products. It makes your product and identity of products different from that of the existing and foreseen competitors and acts as an efficient commercial tool. The logo can communicate your vision, quality or unique characteristic of your company and any organization.

Recognition to product’s Quality:
It gives recognition to the quality of the product. Customers attach the product’s quality with the brand name and this image is created in the market about the quality of a particular brand which helps in attracting new customers as they can differentiate the quality of a product by the logo/brand name.

Creation of Asset:
Registration of Trademark creates an intangible asset i.e. Intellectual Property for an organization. The registered trademark is a right created which can be sold, assigned, franchised or commercially contracted. Also, the Trademark is an intangible asset that gives the advantage to the organization.

Use of ® symbol:
Once the trademark is registered you can use the ® symbol on your logo stating that it is a registered trademark and no one can use the same trademark. It is exclusive of all types of usages as well as rights. If someone else use the trademark then you can also sue the party if the trademark is registered.

Protection against infringement:
No competitor or other people can use the wordmark or logo registered by you under trademark. However, if in any case one uses it without the approval of the owner of the trademark or makes any deceptive use of the same, the owner can get the legal protection under the Act and stop the person doing so.

Protection for 10 Years at low cost:
Online Trademark registration is done on a very low maintainability cost. Once you register the trademark you have to just pay the maintenance cost and renewal cost which is after 10 years of registering the trademark. It is cost-efficient and helps your company create a unique image.

Global Trademark Registration:
If one wants to register the trademark in countries other than India, the trademark registered in India can be used as a basis of registration there. For any person willing to expand outside India, the trademark registered in India can provide a good base along with the Established Goodwill in the Country.

Attract Human Resources:
Young minds aspire to join big Brands as it acts as a magnet. It inspires the positive image of the organization and thus candidates are attracted to them easily. This reduces the cost of hiring and related activities.
 

What is Trademark Search?

Trademark searches refer to any action taken for the purpose of determining whether and/or a trademark is used in commerce. Trademark searches can be narrow in scope or can include results from every avenue for trademark protection for every mark is remotely similar to the mark that is the subject of the search.

How to do Trademark Search in India?

An online trademark search in the Trademark Registry India can be freely done in the Indian trademark database link.

Three categories of trademark search

  1. Wordmark – For the alike representation of wordmark
  2. Vienna Code – For alike artistic representation
  3. Phonetic – For phonetically alike words.

As there are three search type options available, which include wordmark, Vienna Code and phonetic, one needs to select the search type from the choices given in the tab.

Wordmark search

For instance, to perform a wordmark search, select “wordmark” option from the search type and insert the keywords of the proposed trademark in the box equivalent to “wordmark”.

There are 45 classes of the trademark registration. Classes 1 to 34 deals with different goods and Classes 35 to 45 deals with services as per the Nice Classification. Accordingly, one has to enter the class in the box correcting to “CLASS”. And the classes should be related to the goods and services of the trademark. In India trademark database, one can perform a search only using the single class at a time.

One can perform the wordmark search using any kind of prefix method such as Starts With, Contains or Match With.

A search with the keyword in “Starts With” option will show all the trademarks starting with the searched keyword in the results. Likewise, a search with the keyword in the “Contains” option will show all the trademarks containing the searched keyword in the results. On the other hand, with “Match With” option it will show all the trademarks which are only matching with the searched keyword in the results.

Vienna code search

Vienna code search is mainly performed to find the alike device mark, and one will have to enter the six-digit Vienna code in matching to “Vienna code”, and then select the relevant class. After the search, the result table will show all the marks containing the device.

Phonetic search

The phonetic search is the same as that of the above wordmark search method, excluding without any prefix method. Therefore, one can follow the same step as stated above for the phonetic search of the trademark.

How many classes Trademark Search is provided by the portal?

Trademark Classes
Trademark Classes
Trademark Classes

How to understand the Trademark Search.

As soon as you click on search, a window will be displayed in which every related trademark will be shown in it. You just need to click on any section which is relevant to you and on the right-hand side every detailed information will be displayed of the particular trademark.

It is necessary for every company to have a unique and different trademark because in case any business trademark exists then the other party has entire rights to take strict action against the one who has copied the trademark. Therefore for safety, it is necessary to do Trademark Registration which will secure you from this issues.

How Enterslice Will Help?

Online Trademark registration