Trademark Article

In-depth analytical articles on Indian Trademark law including prosecution,enforcement, statutory interpretation and case developments.

Deceptive Similarity The Legal Test Under Indian Trademark Law

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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. It is the standard by which the Trade Marks Registry determines whether a pending application conflicts with an earlier registration, the criterion by which courts assess whether an allegedly […]

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Trade Dress and Product Shape as Trademark in India

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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 as a trademark. In a marketplace saturated with competing products, the overall commercial appearance of goods has become one

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Colour Marks, Sound Marks and Non-Traditional Trademarks in India

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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 on goods to identify their origin has evolved over centuries into a framework broad enough, in principle, to accommodate almost any sign capable of

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Descriptive Marks and the Acquired Distinctiveness Doctrine in Indian Trademark Law

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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. They occupy the contested middle ground of the distinctiveness spectrum neither inherently protectable like fanciful or arbitrary marks, nor wholly beyond protection like generic terms and their treatment reveals,

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The Concept of Distinctiveness in Indian Trademark Law

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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 function the identification of the commercial origin of goods or services and

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Trademark Assignment – Requirements and Procedure under the Trade Marks Act, 1999

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A trademark, once registered, is a species of personal property. Like other forms of intellectual property, it is capable of being owned, transferred, mortgaged, licensed and dealt with in all the ways that the law permits in respect of movable property. The transfer of ownership of a trademark wholly or partially, with or without the

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Passing Off in India – Elements, Evidence and Remedies

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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, get-up and other indicia of commercial identity against misappropriation by competitors who seek to exploit that reputation

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Trademark Infringement under Section 29 – A Complete Analysis

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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 that the proprietor has built. And it protects consumers against confusion – against the risk that they will be

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Trademark Rectification Proceedings – Sections 57 to 60 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999

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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 under Section 31 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, the register is not beyond challenge. Marks may find their way onto the register through error,

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