Trademark Infringement and Remedies in India

Trademark Infringement and Remedies in India

 

A Trademark makes out a company stand out and gives it a more noteworthy status. The law administrating and protecting Trademark in India is the Trademarks Act, 1999. Section 2 of the act defines Trademark as a mark capable of being represented graphically and capable of distinguishing one person's goods or services from those of others and may include the shape of goods, their packaging and combination of colors. 

 

Legal Framework

In India, Trademarks are secured through explicit resolutions like The Trademarks Act, 1999 and auxiliary resolutions like the Companies Act 1956, and the Customs Act, 1962.

The Trademark Act and other enactments recommend the method to be followed before the Trademarks Registry. The common procedural matters are dealt with in the Code of Civil Procedure 1908, while the accounts of customs records, the Intellectual Property Rights (Imported Goods) Enforcement Rules 2007 apply. Where the matter of Trademark is utilized in an organization name, the Companies Act applies and the criminal authorization cases are brought under the Indian Penal Code 1860.

 

Unregistered Trademarks

Section 27 of the Trademarks act lays the provision of no action for infringement of unregistered Trademark. —

1. No person shall be entitled to institute any proceeding to prevent or to recover damages for, the infringement of an unregistered trademark.

2. Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to affect rights of action against any person for passing off goods or services as the goods of another person or as services provided by another person or the remedies in respect thereof.

The offended party has to prove that:

A. The trademarks in dispute are comparable, and the respondent is misleadingly making its products look like those of the offended party. 

B. And there will undoubtedly be disarray in the psyches of purchasers. The test is to determine whether an individual of normal insight and of defective memory would be confused.

 

Registered Trademark

Section 29 and Section 30 of the Trademarks Act gives provisions for the encroachment activity. Unlike going off, in an encroachment activity, there is not really any weight on the offended party since qualification is as of now settled through enrollment.

 

The registration process for Trademark 

indistinguishable imprints or marks can be registered in an online Trademark registry. The enlisted center examines the imprint or design and may convey to the candidate any issues with it through a merged assessment report. 

Opposition can be recorded within four months of the imprint being distributed in the Trademark Journal. Anyone may oppose or question an enlistment on the grounds of disarray, weakening, clarity or conceivable trickiness.

If the imprint or design is not opposed by anyone, it continues to enrollment. And if any person is aggrieved by an order or decision of the Registrar under this act, or the rules made thereunder may prefer an appeal to the Appellate Board within three months from the date on which the order or decision sought to be appealed against is communicated to such person preferring the appeal.

 

Rectification/cancellation

Once the Trademark is granted, it can be dropped or cancelled in the light of the fact that it was wrongly allowed. A registered trademark can be drooped on the ground that of consistent non-use for a long time and three months from the date of award of enrollment.

 

Remedies

Unlike the U.S. where Trademark encroachment is covered under the Lanham Act, 1946 and doesn't cover criminal cures, Indian law considers criminal cures. Trademarks infringing law are culpable with detainment for a half year to three years and a fine between INR 50000-200000. The act further gives provision for detainment for a long time and additional penalty.