Passing Off and Infringement under the Trade Marks Act, 1999
In the contemporary marketplace, a trademark is no longer a mere badge of origin; it is a repository of goodwill, consumer trust, commercial reputation and competitive identity. As markets globalize.
Assignment, Licensing and Commercial Exploitation of Trademarks under the Trade Marks Act, 1999
In contemporary commerce, a trademark is not confined to its defensive function of preventing misuse….
The Concept of Well-Known Trademarks in India: Reputation beyond Goods and Geography under the Trade Marks Act, 1999
In the architecture of trademark law, not all marks are equal. Some marks merely identify goods…
Deceptive Similarity and the Consumer Confusion Test in Indian Trademark Law
Few questions in Indian trademark law arise more frequently, or are decided with greater consequence, than whether two competing marks are deceptively similar..
The Role of the Trade Marks Registry – Structure, Functions and Jurisdiction
Every trademark right in India passes through a single institutional gateway: the Trade Marks Registry. It is the administrative body that receives applications, conducts examination…
Trademark Registration – The Complete Procedure under the Trade Marks Act, 1999
A trademark is among the most commercially significant assets a business can possess. It is the sign by which consumers identify the source of goods or services..
Absolute Grounds for Refusal under Section 9 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999
A trademark application in India does not receive registration as a matter of course. Before a mark enters the Register of Trade Marks and the statutory rights of an exclusive proprietor crystallize…..
Relative Grounds for Refusal under Section 11 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999
The examination of a trademark application in India operates at two distinct levels. The first level, governed by Section 9 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, concerns the inherent qualities…
Trademark Examination in India – From Filing to Acceptance
The journey of a trademark application from the moment it is filed to the point at which it is accepted for advertisement is one of the most consequential phases in the entire registration process. It is during this period..
Trademark Rectification Proceedings – Sections 57 to 60 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999
The Register of Trade Marks is not an immutable document. While registration confers significant legal presumptions in favour of the proprietor and is treated as prima facie evidence of validity..
Trademark Infringement under Section 29 – A Complete Analysis
Trademark law exists to protect two distinct but related interests simultaneously. It protects the proprietor of a registered mark against the unauthorized use of that mark by others who would free-ride on the reputation and goodwill..
Passing Off in India – Elements, Evidence and Remedies
The law of passing off occupies a foundational position in the Indian intellectual property landscape. It is the common law action through which traders protect the goodwill and reputation they have built in their unregistered marks, trade names….
The Concept of Distinctiveness in Indian Trademark Law
Distinctiveness is the soul of a trademark. It is the quality that separates a protectable brand identifier from an ordinary word, symbol or device that belongs to the common stock of language and commerce. Without distinctiveness, a mark cannot perform the essential..
Trademark Assignment – Requirements and Procedure under the Trade Marks Act, 1999
Trademark law exists to protect two distinct but related interests simultaneously. It protects the proprietor of a registered mark against the unauthorized use of that mark by others who would free-ride on the reputation
Trademark Licensing and Registered User Agreements under the Trade Marks Act, 1999
A trademark is not merely a badge of origin it is a commercial asset of potentially enormous value, capable of generating revenue far beyond the direct sale of the goods or services to which it is attached.The mechanisms through which…
Descriptive Marks and the Acquired Distinctiveness Doctrine in Indian Trademark Law
Of all the categories of marks that traverse the trademark registration process in India, descriptive marks present the most nuanced and intellectually demanding set of questions…
Colour Marks, Sound Marks and Non-Traditional Trademarks in India
The history of trademark law is, in significant part, a history of expanding frontiers. What began as a system designed to protect word marks and simple devices the merchant’s mark stamped…
Trade Dress and Product Shape as Trademark in India
Among the most commercially significant and doctrinally complex questions in contemporary Indian trademark law is the extent to which the visual and physical appearance of a product or its packaging its trade dress can be protected..
Deceptive Similarity The Legal Test Under Indian Trademark Law
No concept in Indian trademark law is more frequently litigated, more extensively analyzed in judicial decisions or more consequential in its practical application than deceptive similarity….
Trademark Dilution in India – Blurring and Tarnishment
Trademark law, in its traditional formulation, is concerned primarily with consumer confusion the risk that the use of a similar mark will mislead consumers about the commercial origin of goods or services….
Domain Names as Trademarks – Cybersquatting and UDRP in India
The emergence of the internet as the dominant medium of global commerce has generated a body of legal problems that the architects of modern intellectual property law.