Eligibility Criteria for Trademark Registration in India
How to register a trademark in India online? Before one moves to register the Brand logo, one must ensure that they have observed all the relevant pre-conditions before filing for a Trademark Registration. Therefore, we have enlisted the eligibility criteria for online trademark registration in India below for you:
- A trademark must be unique.
- A trademark should not be deceptively similar to an existing one.
- A trademark should be distinct from an existing one.
Who Can Apply For a Trademark
Any company can apply for a trademark registration to save their products and services. Below are the entities that can do a trademark registration:
Joint Owners: The joint owners can file a trademark application for registration, in the application both their names must be included.
Proprietorship Firm: A proprietorship firm cannot file an application under the name of proprietor or business. If they do so, then the application will be considered a separate
Partnership Firm: as per the Indian Partnership Act, a partnership firm form when two or more individuals include in a business to gain profits which are equally shared.
Limited Liability Partnership: The LLP companies have their own identities, so they can file the trademark registration under the name of LLP. But the partners cannot be the applicant.
Indian Company: Any company be it private or public, should apply for the registration of a trademark under the name of the company. As every incorporated entity has its own identity, the director cannot be a trademark applicant.
Society or Trust: A trust is formed on a legal agreement where the beneficiary holds property and the nominee trustee controls the assets and other operations. And a society builds when more people come together to fulfil a particular purpose. Both the trust and society can do trademark registration on behalf of the society and trust.
Individual or Person: Any individual who wants to register the unique symbol or words can file the trademark application under their own name. It is not necessary that they own a business.
Types of Trademark Registration in India
There are different types of trademark registration in India, these are as follows:
1. Product Mark
This type of mark is used on products only and not on services. It shows the origin of a good and product which initially maintains the reputation of a business. All the applications related to trademark classes 1 to 4 are classified as product marks. The time taken in registering a product mark is almost 18-24 months. Some examples are Nestle and Amul.
2. Service Mark
The service mark is similar to the product mark but it is not applicable to products. The main use of this service is to differentiate the proprietors and the legal owners of the service. The applications filed under class 35-45 come under service marks.
3. Collective Mark
These type of marks are owned by the association and organisations, these marks shows a collaboration of superior quality services and products. Also, two individuals can use this trademark to represent that they are protecting a product or service.
4. Certification Mark
This mark shows the origin of the product such as material, quality or any other detail that is provided by the proprietor. The main motive to this type of mark is to issue some standards to any product. Example - ISI marks, FSSAI marks.
5. Shape Mark
The shape mark protects a particular shape of a trademark so that consumers can identify the product from its structure and can buy from the right manufacturer. Example - Coke bottle and Dairy Milk shape identifies the brand.
6. Pattern Mark
Companies which are making some type of specific pattern products can trademark their products to protect the work. A company have to prove first that their work is unique. Mostly, this type of mark is used in the fashion industry, such as big brands have this Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Calvin Klein. In India, brands such as Sabyasachi, and Manish Malhotra use this mark so that no one copy it without permission.
7. Sound Mark
This mark is to protect sound, for example in India, the IPL tune is famous, so it is a sound mark registered. To get the sound mark certification, the company has to show that sound is original. Different associations, institutions, or even individuals can apply for sound mark registration.