lawyers in India

Protecting Domain Names as Trade Marks in India

Written by: Prashant Katara - 4th Year Student B.A.L.L.B, Symbiosis Law School, Pune
Constitutional Lawyers in India
Legal Service India.com
  • A recent U.K. case has confirmed that the trade mark EASY.COM is registerable and not descriptive.

    The Opposition
    EasyGroup IP Licensing Limited applied in the U.K. to register the trade mark EASY.COM in association with a wide range of services including advertising, business administration, financial services and electronic mail services. Easynet Group Plc opposed the application on the grounds that the applied for mark was devoid of distinctive character and/or descriptive contrary to the U.K. legislation. The Hearing Officer dismissed the opposition.

    The Appeal

    Easynet Group Plc appealed to the High Court of Justice. They argued that where a mark is composed of two descriptive components, it cannot be registered without finding that there was something special or unusual concerning the combination.

    On appeal, it was assumed that each of the elements of the mark was descriptive and was not registerable. However, the correct approach was to look at the mark as a whole in order to see whether it is descriptive and in particular, to see whether the mark as a whole produces something that is more than the mere sum of its parts. It is the overall assessment that matters. The Court then concluded that the Hearing Officer had adopted the correct approach and correctly found that the mark was registerable.

    The Canadian Position

    Under the Canadian Trade-marks Act (the Act), a mark is not registrable if it is clearly descriptive of the character or quality of the wares or services in association with which it is used or proposed to be used. In a number of cases it has been decided that merely joining together two descriptive words to form a single word is not sufficient to avoid the prohibition. In each case, the first impression created by the trade mark, whether depicted, written or sounded, must be taken into consideration. A trade mark may be registrable as a whole although it includes words that are clearly descriptive.

    Practice Note
    A domain name that satisfies the registrability requirements of the Act and is used as a trade mark may be protected as a trade mark. While it can be difficult to obtain a registration for a domain name that is descriptive in nature, the mark as a whole should be considered, not just the components.
     

    For Trademark Registration Contact Ph no: 9873628941

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    Registration of Unconventional Trademarks:
    A trade mark may be a word signature, name, device, label, numerals or combination of colours used by

    Trade Mark Law in India and Its Violation:
    trademark is one of the elements of Intellectual Property Right and is represented by the symbol TM or ®

    Trans border reputation of Trade Marks:
    international reputation of trade marks. It states that if a trade mark is not registered or used in a country

    Protecting Trade Marks:
    India has seen a rapid growth in its economic structure and one of the major reason being the global presence of the India

    Use of Trademark In Comparative Advertising: India enacted its new Trademarks Act 1999 (the TM Act) and the Trademarks Rules 2002, with effect.

    Intellectual Property: Having ownership of intellectual property rights in a product gives one certain exclusive rights to do things with the product. Generally.

    Section 25 of The Trade Marks Act, 1999: The present paper deals with the nature of the sending of notice by the Registrar under section 25 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 enacted by the Parliament of India


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