Alteration to Registered Trademark

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Alteration to Registered Trademark

A trademark is a sign, symbol, word, or words registered or legalized for the use of representation of a company's product or services. Hence, any tamper or illegal use of this trademark by any other company it does not belong to, gives the authorized company the right to legal action making trademark of a company the most important feature of its existence.

There are certain attributes required to register a trademark.

• Identical or deceptively similar to an existing registered trademark or trademark for which application for registration has been made cannot be registered
• Trademarks that would likely cause deception or confusion or is offensive may not be registered
• Geographical names, common names, common trade words and common abbreviation can also not be registered as a trademark

Once a company is formed, although not mandatory, it must register its trademark with the Registrar to gain legal benefits. It is a simple and important process and does not require much effort and the registration is valid for ten years only.

The law strictly restricts any significant alteration in the trademark once registered and updated in the Trademarks Journal. It specifically restricts any change that will alter

• Use
• Date of usage
• Proprietor details
• Details regarding products and services

If the alteration of trademark is a necessity, then a new application must filed with five copies of the alteration or change that is to be made to the trademark. The registrar will review the change or alteration and if the amendment requires a new search, the change is not permitted. Any addition of new character is also not permissible.

A trademark can be amended under following circumstances:

• Proprietorship details if its on the ground of valid transmission
• Change in address of the applicant or location of the service provided
• Confining or deleting a product or service
• Imposing limitation on the area of sales of products or services

Apart from the above situations, a trademark is not permissible to be altered.

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