Why Do I Register for Trademark ?

A trademark is an expression related to a product or service that gives unique identification and differentiate the logo from other. A trademark is symbolized as ™ or ® sign at the end.

However, it is important for businesses to look forward to a logo registration or brand name registration. After Trademark registration, the owner receives an exclusive right to take a legal action under the categories they are registered in.

Trademark registration gives authority to the owners to establish their trademark rights in court. Also, the trademark owners can earn royalties. Trademark stop and prevents similar company names from being registered by other businesses.

What are the Advantages of a Trademark Registration ?

• Legal Protection

  If your registered trademark gets infringed, then you can establish your right in court. If in case you have not registered the loge, word, or slogan you would not be able to establish your right in the court.

• Business Opportunity

  A trademark is an intangible asset. It can be enormously valuable, should your brand succeed. Through licensing agreements the businesses can earn huge money in royalties or even transfer ownership to interested parties by the way of assignment agreements.

Who Can Apply For Trademarked ?

The person who can apply for trademark registration are :

• An Individual

  An individual doing and not doing any business is also likely to file a trademark application and get trademark registration for a word or symbol that is intended to be used by him/her in the future. When filing the trademark application as an individual, the full name of the applicant is needed.

• Joint Owners

  In case 2 persons come together and choose to file a trademark application, then the names of both the person must be specified on the trademark application.

• Proprietorship Firm

  In proprietorship firm filing a trademark application, the full name of the Proprietor must be specified in the application. A business name or proprietorship name is not adequate as the name of an individual. This is because a business name or proprietorship name is more like an alias for the actual person and proprietorship firms are not a separate legal entity. Still, if a proprietorship name or business name is included in the application in addition to the name of an individual applicant, those details will be taken separately.

• Partnership Firm

  In partnership firm filing for a trademark application, the names of all the partners are necessarily needed to be specified in an application filed by a partnership firm. Partnership firms are not viewed as a separate legal entity and hence, the names of all Partners must be specified in the trademark application.

Advantages of Trademark Registration

The following individuals or entities must register for Trademark:

• Global Filling of Trademark: A trademark that is registered and filed in India is allowed to be filed in other countries. Besides, foreigners can also get a trademark registered and filed in India.

• Legal Protection: A registered trademark owner has the legal right in case of violation i.e you dispute that your trademark is repeated by someone else, you sue them for copying your logo, brand, name or slogan.
• Protection from Infringement : Filing a trademark secures the trademarked object is not used without permission by any other company or Individual. But, if the trademark is used by a 3rd-party without the approval of the owner of the trademark, the owner can claim legal protection upon the act and even sue the person or the company who made the wrong usage of the trademark.
• Exclusive rights: The owner of a registered trademark will be capable to have exclusive rights over the trademark. The same trademark can be practiced by the owner for all the products that fall under the same classes. Having the sole rights on the product or services also allows the owner to stop any kind of illegal use of the trademarked thing.

Documents Required

• Copy of Logo

• Signed Form-48

• ID Proof

• Address proof of Proprietor/Company

• Udyog Aadhaar Registration Certificate

Validity Time of Trademark Registration

Once a trademark application is registered, the applicant can start applying the TM symbol on products or services. All registered trademarks are valid for 10 years from the date of registration. When the registered trademark validity times about to get expired apply for its renewal and get your time extended

An expired trademark can be renewed by Form TM-13 (Restoration & Renewal) after 6 months and within 1year from the expiration of the last registration of the trademark. At the end of the validity of a trademark, a trademark can be renewed simply by giving the Government fee for registration within 6 months by Form TM-12 Renewal of Registration from the date of expiry of the trademark.

Trademark Search

Trademark search must be fulfilled before filing a trademark application to find possible conflicts with existing trademark applications or registered trademarks. You can do a trademark search by giving the wordmark and the class under which the search is to be done. Trademark application is created under 45 different classes as per the NICE classification for trademark. All of the trademark class represents a different set of goods and services. In case you need to find the trademark class for a good or service, you can use our trademark class finder tool. We provide an easy way to complete a trademark search through this online tool.

Trademark Renewal

For applying for trademark registration won’t work for the long-term. The trademark continues to be valid for 10 years after that you need to file for Trademark Renewal. The renewal application form must be made and filed before the deadline to have the seamless security of the trademark without any risks of litigation. So, the suggested applying for registration 6 months before expiration.

• Protection from Frivolous Litigation

  It is likely to have seamless trademark security without any risks of litigation. Renewal of trademarks makes hard for someone to have rights over it other than the trademark owner.

• Expansion of Ownership Rights

  You can get protection from infringement of rights over the brand name. The sole rights over the trademark are maintained for 10 years after each renewal. So it gives permanent security of your brand and goodwill made by the brand.

• Brand Name Security

  Renewal of trademark guarantees consistent and unhindered protection of the brand name. Avoiding of renewal leads to a failure of legal protection in Brand name.

• Monetary Returns

  A trademark owner has the particular rights to allot or license the trademark to someone else in return for some monetary benefit. Thus, one can earn a profit from a registered trademark as well.

The application of renewal is done in form TM-12, executed by either the certified owner of the trademark or an agent approved by him. You need to take the help of an expert to register for the renewal of a trademark application to ensure that the mark is well protected. This is because you may require to expand the scope of protection. After all, if your brand has lasted 10 years, it’s possible that it will have discontinued the classes you had 1st registered it under.

Filing a trademark renewal application extends protection by another 10 years. The trademark registrations are relevant for another 10 years and renewed again before expiry.

FAQs on Trademark Registration