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Protection of a Well-Known Trademark
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Why Should I Use Dreamunicus for Protection of Well-Known Trademarks?
Let’s face it… Just because your brand is a household name doesn’t mean your trademark is safe? Unless… You get It declared as a ‘well-known trademark’ through Dreamunicus. We can help in the protection of well known trademarks in just 3 easy steps.
Talk to our expertsFix an appointment with our trademark experts to resolve all your queries
Provide all the needed documentationAs per the process, provide all the required documents. Our team will initiate the required paperwork
Protect your well known trademarkOur team will avail the well-known trademarks status and keep you updated
Concept of Well-Known Trademarks
Well-known trademarks are defined under the Trademarks Act of 1999 as a mark that has become so popular to the substantial portion of the public that uses these goods and services will assume that there is a connection in this particular business when a similar mark is utilised by a competitor. This will result in valuable customers moving on to the fake brand. In order to prevent this certain popular brands are provided the status of a trademarks.
What Are the Different Types of Trademark ?
A trademark is a symbol, word, or group of letters and numbers that a business uses to claim ownership of a term or visual representation of its goods and services. Basically they are classified into five different types.
Product Trademark
This is a kind of mark placed directly in the goods rather than the service. This kind of trademark is used to identify the product’s place of origin and supports a company’s reputation. Given that they represent goods, trademark applications filed under trademark class 1-34 may be referred to as product marks.
Service Mark
A service mark, like a product mark, is used to distinguish a service from a product. The primary goal of this service mark is to effectively differentiate the owner and other service providers.
Shape Mark
Shape marks are solely used to protect a product’s shape so that customers would link it to a particular manufacturer and decide to buy the goods.
Model Mark
These products have distinctive design patterns that are mandatory for identifying the product. Only the patterns that stand out as a unique mark are allowed to have this type of recognition.
Sound Mark
A sound mark is a noise that can be connected to a good or service coming from a specific vendor. People must be able to quickly and easily recognise the service, product, or show that the sound stands for in order for it to be registered as a sound mark.
Difference Between Trademark and Well-Known Trademark
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They may end up assuming that there is a connection between the already present goods and the competitor goods using the same mark. In layman terms a well known trademark is something that is very much popular like Puma or Nike.
Well-Known Trademarks and Law in India
Rolex Sa v. Alex Jewellery Pvt Ltd & Ors, CS(OS) 41/2008
Because the defendant was using the name ‘Rolex’ on their bogus jewellery boxes, the plaintiff Rolex, a Swiss watch company, filed a lawsuit against the defendant for trademark infringement. The court forbade the defendant from using the plaintiff’s trademark because it was well-known and highly esteemed and because doing so would lead to confusion among consumers who would incorrectly think that the jewellery was made by the plaintiff’s company ‘Rolex SA’.
Microsoft Corporation v. Kurapati Venkata Jagdeesh Babu, CS(OS) 2163/2010 & I.A. No.14225/2010
The Hon’ble Delhi High Court forbade the defendant in this case from using the term ‘Microsoft’ since it was an internationally recognised and well-respected brand. The court went on to say that since the defendant would not be allowed to use the name of the well-known trademark as their own, since the plaintiff’s trademark had unique goodwill and repute.
Tata Sons Ltd. v. Manoj Dodia, CS(OS) No. 264/2008
In this case, the defendant Manoj Dodia, the owner of Durga Scale Company, was sued by the plaintiff Tata Sons Ltd, a well-known manufacturer of cars and heavy vehicles, for the violation of the TATA trademark. The defendant operated a business that manufactured scales with the A1 TATA mark. The plaintiff sought rescue of the infringing equipment, a permanent injunction, harms, and an accounting. The defendant was forbidden by the court from utilising the plaintiff’s trademark because he was trying to capitalise on the established brand name’s goodwill. Due to the plaintiff’s well-known and established brand name both within India and internationally, the court granted a permanent injunction as well as punitive damages totaling.
Well-Known Marks and Their Protection
The majority of nations protect well-known trademarks from regular trademarks that are deemed to be a reproduction, imitation, or translation of those marks only if those marks are likely to cause confusion in the relevant market. Protection of well-known trademarks is a new field that was only introduced in 1999.
Protection for well-known trademarks and marks that are registered in good faith are provided by Section 11 of the Trademark Act, 1999. According to Rule 124 of the Trademark Rules, anybody may submit an application for the registration of a well-known trademark.
Well-KnownTrademark Case Laws
Trademark Rules 2017
The trademark registry doesn’t allow registration of trade marks that are identical as that of a well known trademark. Additionally, it organises the criteria for identifying well-known trademarks through a different application. Anyone seeking to determine whether a trademark is submit an application to the registrar after paying ₹1,000,000 in TM-M form.
The Trademark Act, 1999
In 1998, India subsequently put her signature on the Paris Convention’s instrument of accession. According to Rule 124 of the Trademark Rules, anybody may submit an application for the registration of a well-known trademark. It declares that all popular trademarks for goods and services must be protected.
Section 11(6) of the Trademark Act addresses the requirement of factor consideration prior to the determination of a well-known trademark. In order to protect well known trademarks WIPO opted foreign joint resolution resulting in the protection of well known trademarks in 1999.
The Trademark Act’s Section 11(7) states that when determining whether a trademark is known or recognised in the applicable section for the purpose outlined in Subsection, the number of actual or positional customers of goods and services, the number of individuals involved in the distribution channel system, and the business circle dealing with the goods and services to which the trademark shall apply should adhere to all the factors that are taken into account. The prerequisites that are not necessary to determine whether a trademark is covered by Section 11(9) of the Trademark Act.
Section 11(6) of the Trademark Act addresses the requirement of factor consideration prior to the determination of a well-known trademark. In order to protect well known trademarks WIPO opted foreign joint resolution resulting in the protection of well known trademarks in 1999.
The Trademark Act’s Section 11(7) states that when determining whether a trademark is known or recognised in the applicable section for the purpose outlined in Subsection, the number of actual or positional customers of goods and services, the number of individuals involved in the distribution channel system, and the business circle dealing with the goods and services to which the trademark shall apply should adhere to all the factors that are taken into account. The prerequisites that are not necessary to determine whether a trademark is covered by Section 11(9) of the Trademark Act.
Benefits of Well-Known Trademarks
- Safeguards Advertising and Branding Investments
All firms must invest in branding and advertising due to the intense competition in today’s markets. Businesses invest in a range of advertising platforms, such as the internet, newsprint, radio, and TV, to advertise their brand to consumers. A well-known trademark can help in safeguarding the investments and provide greater ROI.
- Protects Against Unethical Competition
This serves as an effective weapon in the fight against unfair competition is a trademark registration. Today’s market is filled with copycats and counterfeiters that profit from brands that have been dishonestly used.
- The Enforcement of Trademark Registrations Against Company Name
According to the Companies Act of 2013, a company’s name cannot be the same as or nearly the same as a registered trademark. The names that the business plans to use in the future can be blocked using this clause. A trademark and a business name cannot be the same or very similar. As a result, once a trademark is registered, a corporation cannot be created under the same name.
Frequently Asked Questions (Faq)
Maybe, well known phrases can be protected as trademarks if the individual or business applying for the trademark can show that the phrase has developed a distinctive secondary meaning independent of its primary meaning. The phrase must be associated with a specific commodity or service in that secondary sense.
A similar or identical trademark may only be registered by utilising the justification of concurrent use, which is allowed under Section 12 of the Act. In this situation, the Registrar is granted discretionary authority by the legislation. Therefore, it is in the registrar's judgement whether to permit honest concurrent use.
A trademark can be any distinctive symbol, word, numerical, expression, colour and sign combination, or design that identifies the source of a certain product and sets it apart from all other items of the same sort. Any person owning a business or registered as an individual can file their trademark registration.
- Generic Mark
- Suggestive Mark
- Descriptive Mark
- Arbitrary Mark.
Weakest trademarks refers to the least generic words, which are not even acceptable as registered trademarks. These trademarks cannot be registered and cannot be used to compel third parties to use them.
Well-known trademarks are protected by the Trade Marks Act of 1999. The Trade Marks Act of 1999 offers two tiers of protection for well-known trademarks against the filing of any identical marks. Take action if a well-known trademark is being misused.
The two sorts of trademarks with the greatest strength are (1) arbitrary marks, like AMAZON for retail services, and (2) fanciful or coined marks, like EXXON for petroleum products.
It safeguards original or innovative efforts. The branding used to market goods and services is protected by trademarks. When the work is developed, the authorship gains sole ownership of the copyright. The owner enjoys legal rights over the registered trademark.
The most well-known trademark globally is likely the Coca-Cola trademark.
In India, some examples of well-known trademarks are Amul, Tata, and Infosys.
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