Trademark

The success of a business depends on various elements, including its brand. Commonly understood as just the name and logo, “brand” has a deeper meaning, incorporating many factors that feed into the consumer experience offered by the business. A successful brand strategy leverages brand identities to create imagery that prompts instant recall in consumers’ minds. ......

The primary objective of intellectual property (IP) law is to encourage creativity and innovation; the law must also maintain a fine balance such that the use of such creativity and innovation is not prevented outright, but also not abused. This is why IP and IP-related laws have requirements like demonstrating the working of patents in a jurisdiction, or preventing domain squatting, and so on. ......

Food is a language that connects everyone worldwide. Cuisines change every few hundred miles, food habits and preferences vary with the climate, and families have their own culinary secrets that get passed on from generation to generation. Everyone has something to share and protect. ......

Filing for a trademark and having it examined by the Trade Marks Office is only the first step in the journey towards obtaining a registered trademark. Under Indian Trademark law, once a trademark applied for has been examined for objections pertaining to distinctiveness or similarity with earlier cited marks, the trademark application is advertised in the Trademarks Journal. ......

It is sometimes presumed that the patent application process concludes with the grant of a patent, after it has been successfully prosecuted. Although prosecution examines an application for patentability, its true test arguably comes during the opposition process. ......

Under Indian trade mark law, the term “well-known trademark” refers to a mark which has become so well-known to a substantial segment of the public through its extensive and continuous use such that its use in relation to any other goods or services by another party may be taken as indicating a connection between the two parties. ......

Under Indian trademark law, any person claiming to be the proprietor of a trademark may apply to register the trademark. The trademark may either be in use or proposed to be used. Generally, the person who uses or controls both the use of the trademark and the nature and quality of the goods or services to which it is affixed, is considered the owner of the trademark. ......

Official trademark fees in India for filing a trademark, as well as fees related to aspects of trademark prosecution, such as opposition, renewal, expedited registration, etc., are provided in the First Schedule of the Trade Mark Rules, 2017. If the fees are not paid or are insufficient, then the document or form provided in connection with a particular process will be deemed not to have been filed. ......

Indian patent law places a unique requirement on patent applicants and holders to not only inform the Indian patent office (“IPO”) of applications filed in other jurisdictions for the same or similar invention but also to periodically update the IPO on the status of these applications. Failing to meet this requirement, under Section 8 of the Indian Patents Act, 1970 (“the Act”), may invite revocation proceedings against a granted patent. ......