Who Can Obtain a Trademark?

A trademark is a signature that is used by a business or individual to gain recognition. For instance, voice of legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan is his trademark. The moment a person  hears it he knows its his'. Similarly, whenever we see logo of Nike, Adidas or other famous brand we instantly recognize it. Now know that who can obtain a trademark?         

A trademark is used for recognition. It can be a name, number, combination of words or numbers, shapes, symbols, colors, design, pattern etc. that is unique. A trademark can be registered as well as unregistered. People can differentiate between them by seeing the symbol on the trademark. TM is used for unregistered trademarks while R inside a circle is for registered ones.

Trademark registration

Trademarks are registered with trademarks office established under Trade Marks Act, 1999. Any person who can get a trademark registered subject to the fact that it should be unique and unregistered. Trademark registration is not mandatory but is advisable as it increases brand value. There are numerous other benefits of registration as well like recognition, promotion, trust etc.

In India trademarks are registered for a period of 10 years. On completion of 10 years proprietors can renew it again. There is no restriction on the number of renewals but every renewal is done for a maximum of 10 years.

Trademarks once registered cannot be used by any other person except its proprietor. Only he owns the exclusive rights for its use. For international registration of trademarks you need to apply with The Madrid System which is a consortium of 97 member nations all of whom will recognize the proprietorship of a trademark.

Changes in Application

Trademark registration is a long term process that can take up to 2 years. In between such time a proprietor cannot make any changes to the application except for the basic ones that do not substantially alter the trademark application. Such a change is prohibited and will not be entertained under any circumstance. A proprietor can however make changes as to his communication address, contact number etc.

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