This document provides an overview of trademarks, including: - The meaning and types of trademarks such as generic, descriptive, suggestive, arbitrary and fanciful. - The categories of trademarks including product marks, service marks, collective marks, certification marks, shape marks, pattern marks, and sound marks. - The procedure to register a trademark in India, which involves searching for availability, filing an application, responding to any objections, advertising in the trademark journal, and obtaining registration. - An example of a trademark infringement case where Amul won against a cooperative union that sought to use the similar mark "Imul".

1. A PRESENATION ON
TRADEMARK
Prepared By:-
Solanki Devanshi

2. Content
• Meaning of Trademark
• Types of Trademark
• Categories of Trademarks
• Procedure to register a trademark
• Trademark infringement case

3. Meaning of the Trademark
 A trademark is a distinctive sign that
identifies certain goods or services produced
or provided by an individual or a company.
 The system helps consumers to identify and
purchase a product or service based on
wheatear its specific characteristics and
quality- as indicated by its unique trademark.
 Trademarks may be one or a combination of
words, letters and numerals. They may
consist of drawings, symbols or three-
dimensional signs, such as the shape and
packing of goods.

4. A trademark may be designated by the following symbols:
The letter TM is a Unregistered Trademark.
Trademark's used to identify services are called
service Mark(SM).
The encircled letter R is a Registered
Trademark.

5. Types of trademark
 Generic Trademarks:-
Words, symbols or devices that are not so distinctly distinguishing the goods
from others are at the weakest ends, as they are common terms used to identify the
goods themselves. These are termed as generic terms and are not protectable as
trademarks.
 Descriptive Trademarks:-
Descriptive trademarks clearly denote or inform the specific purpose,
functions, physical characteristic and end use of the product.
 Suggestive Trademarks:-
Suggestive trademarks do not at a glance describe the goods for which the
mark is used; yet they rather require some imagination or perception to arrive
at a conclusion about the nature of the goods. Suggestive marks are inherently
distinctive and protectable. - The other types of trademarks include
arbitrary marks and fanciful marks which are inherently distinctive.

6. Categories of Trademark
• A trademark may be divided into some of the following categories:
1) Product Mark
2) Service Mark
3) Collective Mark
4) Certification Mark
5) Shape Mark
6) Pattern Mark
7) Sound Mark

7. 1. Product Mark
• A product mark is similar to a trademark. The only difference is, it refers
to trademarks related to products or goods and not services. It is used to
identify the source of a product and to distinguish a manufacturer’s
products from others.
• The application for the trademark can be filed within few days and
“TM” symbol can be used. The time required for trademark registry, to
complete formalities is generally around 18 to 24 months. The ®
(Registered symbol) can be used next to the trademark once the
trademark is registered and registration certificate is issued. Once
registered, a trademark will be valid for 10 years from the date of filing,
which can be renewed time to time.

8. 2. Service Mark
• A service mark is the same as a trademark, but instead of a particular
product, it identifies and differentiates the source of a service. For
example, a company such as Yahoo may brand certain products with a
trademark, but use a service mark on the internet searching service
that it provides. It is denoted by ‘SM’.
• Service marks do not represent goods, but the services offered by the
company. Companies providing services like computer hardware and
software assembly, restaurant and hotel services, courier and transport,
beauty and health care, advertising, publishing, etc. are now in a
position to protect their names and marks from being misused by
others.

9. 3. Collective Mark
• These are the trademarks used by a group of
companies and can be protected by the group
collectively. Collective marks are used to inform the
public about a particular characteristic of the product
for which the collective mark is used. The owner of
such marks may be an association or public
institution or it may be cooperative.

10. 4. Certification Mark
• It is a sign indicating that the goods/services are certified
by the owner of the sign in terms of origin, material,
quality, accuracy or other characteristics. This differs from
a standard trademark whose function is to distinguish the
goods/services that originate from a single company.
• They guarantee the consumers that the manufacturers have
gone through an audit process to ensure the desired quality
of the product/service. For example, Food products, Toys,
Cosmetics, Electrical goods, etc. have such marking that
specifies the safety and the quality of the product.

11. 5. Shape Mark
• According to the Indian Trademarks Act , 1999, a trademark
may also include the shape of goods, their packaging, so long
as it is possible to graphically represent the shape clearly.
This helps in distinguishing the goods sold under such
trademark from those of another manufacturer.
• When the shape of goods, packaging have some distinctive
feature it can be registered. For example, Ornamental Lamps.
In certain cases, the (three-dimensional) shape of a product
or packaging can be a trademark (for example a specially
designed bottle of perfume).
• Any graphical representation which is able to make a
difference amongst the products can be shape marked.

12. 6. Pattern Mark
• These are the marks consisting of a pattern which is capable of identifying the goods or
services as originating from a particular undertaking and thus distinguishing it from those
of other undertakings. Such goods/services are registrable as Pattern Marks.
• Pattern marks that are descriptive or indistinctive are objectionable because they fail to
serve as an identifier of trade source. Such goods/services would not be accepted for
registration without evidence of uniqueness. In cases where the pattern mark has become
identified in the minds of the public with a particular undertaking’s goods or services, it
receives acquired distinctiveness and can register for Pattern Mark.

13. 7. Sound Mark
• A sound mark is a trademark where a particular sound does the function of
uniquely identifying the origin of a product or a service. In the case of sound
marks, a certain sound is associated with a company or its product or
services — for example, the Nokia tune.

14. Procedure to register a trademark
1) Search the Trademark Database
• Time to complete: 1 day
• Cost: Free
• The first step is to search for a unique name and checking its availability by conducting a preliminary search and ensuring
that not any other domains are using the same name as you. Then an official search is carried on with the Trademark office.
This can be done both online and offline. It is recommended that you hire an experienced attorney to do it on your behalf;
you would need to authorize them as your legal attorney by providing them with an authorization letter.
• Some of the free search portals are available to check the availability of a trademark of your choice:
 Government based online search portal
• A trademark search can be conducted in India on the Indian trademark registries website at; www.ipindia.nic.in
 Free Public search portal
• A reliable search can be conducted by using QuickCompany.in https://www.quickcompany.in/trademark

15. 2) Filing of TM-1 Application
• Time to Complete: 2 days
• Cost: Rs. 4000 per application per class + lawyer's fees
• After selecting a strong trademark and the appropriate class for it, 2nd step is to file the TM-1
form to register your trademark. This form is available on the IP INDIA's website. Submit the
form along with the prescribed details such as the applicant's name, address, and nationality, a
list of goods and services for which registration is required and a soft copy of the trademark to
be registered in JPEG format.
• Immediately after submitting your application with Trademark Registry you will be issued an
acknowledgment slip with the Trademark Application number, which you can use to track your
application online by checking its status time to time.

16. 3) Use your Trademark
• Time to Complete: Does not apply
• Congratulations! Your ™ is ready for use. But it's also time for a long wait to get
the registration mark, which allows you to use the ® symbol. This could take up to
2 years. And that's in case it all goes smoothly.
4) Issue of Examination Report
• Time to Complete: 3 to 6 months
• Cost: Free, but Rs. 4000 to Rs. 6000 in case of an objection
• The process of questioning your claim to the trademark only begins now. First the
government will itself check if it has objections to your application.

17. a) No Objection:
• If the government has no objection to the trademark you've applied for in its examination report,
it will issue a Letter of Acceptance (also known as a TLA order), after which an advertisement
will be placed in the Trade Marks Journal.
b) An Objection:
• The government could raise objections for a variety of reasons: it may deem the word or logo too
similar to an existing trademark. If you wish to challenge this objection, you would need to pay a
further Rs. 3,000, as well as lawyer's fees, which should be a minimum of Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 5,000.
This is to frame a response to the objection or present evidence of the distinctiveness of your
trademark. An interview with the examiner may also be posted. If the government withdraws its
objection, it will then publish the advertisement in the Trade Marks Journal.

18. 5) Advertisement in TM Journal
• Time to Complete: 3 to 6 months
• Cost: Free, but legal fees in case of opposition
• The government having signaled its approval, the trademark is now ready to be viewed by
the public, in the Trade Marks Journal. If no one is opposed to it 4 months from its
publication, the trademark registration certificate will be issued in 6 to 10 months.
6) Trademark Registration
• Time to Complete: Up to 9 months
• Cost: Does not apply
• Around 9 months after the advertisement is published, the trademark will be registered.
In a case of an opposition, 9 months after the Registrar rules in your favor. The
registered trademark is valid for 10 years at a time and is renewable indefinitely.

19. Trademark Infringement case example
• Dairy major Amul of Gujarat has won a trademark dispute with a
milk producers’ co-operative union in West Bengal, which sought
to market a brand of milk named ‘Imul’.
• The Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) has set aside an
order of the Registrar of Trademark, Kolkata, registering the
trademark ‘Imul’, holding that it is deceptively similar to Amul.
• The board comprising Vice-Chairman S. Usha and member V.
Ravi said: “The marks are no doubt phonetically similar, except
for first letters a and i. When we consider the marks to be
deceptively similar, the possibility of confusion is certain. The
trademark, therefore, shall not proceed to registration.”
• In 2006, after rejecting opposition from the Kaira District Co-
Operative Milk Producers’ Union Limited, Anand, the Registrar
General of Trademark, Kolkata, allowed the registration of ‘Imul’
as the trademark of the Ichhamati Co-Operative Milk Producers
Union Limited in 24 district.
Amul Won the Case

20. Thank You