What is a Trademark? And how to do trademark registration.

It becomes necessary to talk about Trademark Registration because we can also call a trademark as a trade mark of a business, its usefulness increases because the name and symbol of his business is established by the entrepreneur in the market with great effort. If his trade mark is used by someone else, then his years of hard work can be hurt.

Trademark registration is not legally necessary to do any business, but when it comes to protecting the trade mark, then trademark registration becomes necessary so that no one else can use that trade mark for their business.

Imagine that you have been working hard for years to make your business name, brand etc. branch, but you have not trademarked your business and one day a situation comes when you come to know that this name or brand If someone is already doing business by registering a trademark, then the hard work done by the entrepreneur for years can be spoiled in a moment.

Because the trademark which is already registered, no other entrepreneur can register the same trade mark again. So trade mark registration becomes necessary to establish your brand name in the market.

What is Trade Mark?

As we have told in the above sentence that the meaning of Trade in Hindi is applied by the meaning of business and Mark. This is the reason that we can call Trademark as a trade mark of a business in Hindi. In simple words, the trademark of a business can be its brand name, or logo. Although there are many types of Trade Marks such as Product mark, that is, a mark that is printed on a product or item so that the product of that company can be easily identified in the market.

Like Maggi®, Pepsi®, etc. Apart from this, Shape Mark, Pattern Mark, Sound Mark, Service mark etc. are also types of Trade Mark. It is meant to say any visual sign such as a textual signature, name, device, label, figure and any group of colors used by an entrepreneur as a trademark to differentiate his business from other businesses and to make a mark in the market. can be brought in common parlance, Trade Mark is known as Brand name.

Who can apply for Trademark:

Any individual entrepreneur, company, sole proprietorship company, partnership company or any other established legal entity can apply for trade mark. The application form for Trademark is available on the official website of Government of India IPI India . By filling this application in the prescribed format and submitting it to the office of the Registrar of Trademark, after getting approval, the entrepreneur can use the ® mark for his business or product.

It may take about one and a half years to two years to complete the formalities for Trademark Registration, in the meanwhile the ™ mark can be used by the company, entrepreneur or any other legal entity that has applied for Trademark registration. and the ® mark may be used later after the registration is complete.

When the trademark registration is complete, a certificate is issued by the Government of India in the name of the applicant company or individual, which is considered valid for the next 10 years. And after ten years its renewal is done.

Benefits of trademark registration

• Trade Mark Registration gives any entrepreneur the ownership of that trade mark and gives the right to use it on his product or service.
• The entrepreneur who has registered the Trade Mark becomes free from the fear that his trademark may be used illegally by other Traders.
• If a person has got his trade mark registered, then he can take legal action against that trader for using it by other traders.
• If we talk briefly about its benefits, then we will find that its biggest benefit is to protect the brand name.
• Through trade mark, the entrepreneur or company is able to build its reputation among its customers.

Trademark registration and renewal Fee:

 Different forms and fees have been fixed for completing different processes related to trade mark, whose list is something like this.

• Keeping in mind the nature of the application, different types of Forms like TM-1, TM-2, TM-3, TM-8, TM-51 etc. have been structured for new Trademark registration. The fee to be charged in this has been fixed at Rs 4000.
• Form TM-5 has to be filled to raise the Opposition, whose fee has been fixed by the Government of India at Rs 2500.
• To renew the registered trade mark, a fee of Rs 5000 has to be paid by filling Form TM-12.
• To renew after the renewal date, a surcharge of up to Rs 3000 has to be paid by filling Form TM-10.
• If the trade mark of an entrepreneur has been removed, then for its restoration, Rs 5000 has to be paid as a fee by filling Form-TM 13.
• To make corrections in a registered trademark, a fee of Rs 3000 has to be paid by filling Form TM-26.

If an entrepreneur gets the registration done through a Trade Mark agent, then the above fees can be higher because some fee will be charged by the Trade Mark agent as well.

Documents for Trademark Registration

 Following is the list of documents required for getting a trademark.

• Copy of trademark, logo, brand name or whatever the person/company wants to make its trademark.
• If the applicant is a company, then a copy of the Incorporation Certificate and if it is an individual, then the details of the applicant’s name, address proof, citizenship, etc.
• Description of the product or service for which trademark registration is required.
• If the entrepreneur or company is applying for a trademark that is already being used by them, then the date of bringing that trademark into use.
• Copy of Power of attorney signed by the applicant on Rs.100 stamp paper.

How to Register Trademark in India

Trademark registration process in India is a lengthy ie time consuming process. Therefore, if the entrepreneur wishes, he can first choose an authorized Trade Mark agent or Trade Mark Attorney. After that all the procedures related to trademark registration will be done automatically by the selected authorized agent or lawyer.

Although the Government of India has approved trademark registration through both online and offline mode like other registrations. That’s why we try to understand the trade mark registration process in brief. First of all, the entrepreneur / company will have to search for the trade mark, after that the application for the trade mark will have to be filled by filling the application form.

After that the Registrar of Trade mark office will appoint a Trade mark examiner for this application, if the trademark examiner finds any errors in the application, then he will raise a Trade mark Objection.

Advertisement is given in the Trade Mark Journal if there is no error of any kind so that if any person has any objection to the applied trademark, he can get the Opposition Filed by filling Fee and Form TM-5. To know the Trademark Registration process in a little detail, we talk about the Step by Step process.

1. Trademark Search

It becomes necessary to do Trademark Search because the trademark that the entrepreneur has created for his product or service may already be registered in someone else’s name, if this happens then the entrepreneur will have to think and make his trademark something else. The process of Trade Mark Search can be done through both online and offline mode.

Where the process of Online Trade Mark Search can be searched through this website called Intellectual Property India of Department of Industrial Policy and promotion, Controller General of Patent Design and trade Marks under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, while searching OFFLINE For this their office can be contacted.

2. Prepare Application for Trademark Registration:

As we have mentioned in the above sentence that for Trade Mark Registration Form has to be filled on the basis of Application Nature, therefore the entrepreneur should choose the appropriate Form only after consulting a Trademark Attorney or Trade Mark agent. Fill the application form.

The filled application form can be submitted by going to the counter of the office of Registrar of Trademark. Or this form can also be sent through post to the concerned office. Apart from this, online can also be applied through e filling gateway through the official website of the concerned department.
  

3. Registration of Trade Mark:

If the entrepreneur does Trade Mark Registration using the e-filling gateway, then after submitting the application, he may have to pay a fee of up to Rs.4000 online. And if the entrepreneur gets this work done by a Trade Mark agent or a lawyer, then he will have to pay some additional fee. After the application form is submitted to the concerned office, the office will inspect whether this trade mark has already been taken by anyone.

If something like this happens then the Office will issue a Trademark Objection to the entrepreneur, that is, the Trademark Objection is issued to the applicant by the Trademark Examiner. If the examiner does not find any kind of Objection during the Trademark examination, then it is advertised in the Trade Mark Journal by the concerned office.

The advertisement is given so that if any person has any objection to that trademark, then he can raise the Trademark Opposition. If no Opposition is raised for the related trademark by any other business within the next four months, then after about six months the trade mark gets registered.

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