Trademark Law in India

Trademark Laws

Trademark Infringement and Passing off in the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry
The concept of ‘Trademark’ is not new in the Indian scenario. In this 21st century of commercial, technical and scientific advancement, the importance of ‘trademark’ to a business house or the manufacturer of goods to which such marks are applied cannot be undermined.

Registration of shape of goods as Design
Design means only the features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornament or composition of lines or colors applied to any article whether in two dimensional or three dimensional or in both forms, by any industrial process or means, whether manual, mechanical or chemical, separate or combined, which in the finished article appeal to and are judged solely by the eye; but does not include any trade mark as defined in clause (v) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958 or the property mark as defined in section 479 of the Indian Penal Code or any artistic work as defined in clause (c) of section 2 of the Copyright Act, 1957.

Advertising and Trademark Infringement:
The Government announced a new industrial policy on the 24th July, 1991 which envisaged liberalization. With this liberalization and globalization of the Indian economy, the sphere of trade, industry and commerce has increased to a great extent.

Trade Secrets & Competition Act: A bird’s eye view:
A trade secret has both monopoly value and use value, but only the former will normally be affected by misuse of the secret. On this basis, some courts have held that information cannot be considered property. Nevertheless, a comparison of the attributes of trade secrets with those of orthodox property reveals that some of the key attributes of orthodox property rights to create, use, alter, destroy, exchange etc. do seem to be shared by information. However, the problem arises due to the fact that once the secret is revealed, the usual ideas of legal and equitable title cannot be applied.

Passing off under trademark
The concept of passing off has undergone changes in the course of time. At first it was restricted to the representation of one person's goods as those of another. Later it was extended to business and services. Subsequently it was further extended to professions and non-trading activities. Today it is applied to many forms of unfair trading and unfair competition where the activities of one person cause damage or injury to the goodwill associated with the activities of another person or group of persons.

Infringement of trademark and what constitutes honest practice in relation to trade and business
A trademark is often defined as: a word, name, symbol or device that is used in trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others. A service mark is the same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product. The terms "trademark" and "mark" are commonly used to refer to both trademarks and service marks.

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. The section 25 i.e. Duration, Renewal, Removal and Restoration of Registration falls in the periphery of the Chapter-III titled Procedure for and Duration of Registration

Registration of Unconventional Trademarks:
A trade mark may be a word signature, name, device, label, numerals or combination of colours used by an undertaking, on goods or services or other articles of commerce to distinguish it from other similar goods or services originating from a different undertaking. Under the Trade Marks Act, 1999, goods and services are classified according to the International Classification of goods and services. Schedule IV of the Act provides a summary list of such goods and services falling in different classes: but this is merely indicative. The Registrar is the final authority in the determination of the class in which particular goods or services fall.

Economic Dimensions in Trademark Law:
The foundations of the Trademarks Act are based on the safeguarding of the economic rights of the owners of the trademark and also to protect the common man to not to fall a prey to those who use deceptive practices in this trade.

Trade Mark Law in India and Its Violation:
A trademark or trade mark is one of the elements of Intellectual Property Right and is represented by the symbol TM or ® or mark is a distinctive sign or indicator of some kind which is used by an individual, business organization or other legal entity to identify uniquely the source of its products and/or services to consumers, and to distinguish its products or services from those of other entities. A trademark is a type of intellectual property, and typically a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image, or a combination of these elements. There is also a range of non-conventional trademarks comprising marks which do not fall into these standard categories.

Lanham Act, defines a trademark as "any word, name, symbol, or device or any combination thereof adopted and used by a manufacturer or merchant to identify his goods and distinguish them from those manufactured or sold by others."

Trademarks are afforded a legally protected status under the Act because they benefit society by promoting competition among sellers, protect the public from deceit, and guarantee product quality The law protects trademarks by allowing them to be registered and retained for exclusive use by the trademark holder.