Creating Brands through Trademarks
In common usage, a ‘trademark’ is often referred to as a ‘brand.’ By enabling companies to differentiate themselves and their products from those of their competitors, ‘trademarks’, or simply ‘marks’, play a pivotal role in the marketing strategies of companies, contributing to the definition of the image and reputation of a business and its products in the eyes of consumers.
1. A positive image or reputation of a business creates a relationship of trust. The trust so developed provides the basis for developing a loyal clientele and enhancing a business's goodwill in the long term.
2. Often satisfied consumers develop an emotional attachment to a mark. They perceive products/businesses bearing the mark as sharing a brand identity or image, which reflects a set of desired attributes, benefits or values.
3. The brand may also define the cultural image, personality and type of consumers linked to the product sold under that mark or brand.
More Reference: Basics of trademarks
a. Definition
A ‘trademark’, or simply a ‘mark’, is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services produced or provided by one enterprise from those of other enterprises.
b. Character
- Generally, a mark is a visible distinctive word, letter, numeral, drawing, picture, shape, color, logotype, label or a combination of one or more of these. The design of a logo may be an abstract design, stylization or simple reproduction of everyday objects or images. It is possible to get trademark rights over common words or phrases under certain circumstances.
- An increasing number of countries consider a single color, a three‐ dimensional sign (shape of a product or packaging), an audible sign (sound), an olfactory sign (scent or smell), a moving image, a hologram, a taste or a texture of a product to be a mark.
c. Protection
A mark is protected by its registration as a mark under the relevant trademark law or, in some countries, also through its use as a mark in the marketplace. Even where a mark is protected through use, it is advisable to register it as a mark as such registration provides stronger protection in case a dispute concerning a mark requires intervention of other persons or a court of law.
<Requirements for registration>
- The trademark must be distinctive. For a mark to be considered distinctive,
- It should either be inherently distinctive or
- It should have acquired distinctiveness through its use as a mark in the marketplace, which helps it to acquire a secondary meaning as a mark.
The initial registration of a mark is generally valid for 10 years. It may be renewed indefinitely provided the renewal fee is paid in time. Trademark rights may therefore continue indefinitely, as long as the mark is neither abandoned by the trademark owner, nor loses its distinctiveness in The marketplace as a trademark by becoming a generic term.
d. Trademark owner has the following rights
- Trademark rights are territorial in nature. In the relevant territory, a trademark owner has the exclusive right to use the trademark on or in relation to products and to authorize others to use it in like manner on mutually agreed terms and conditions that generally include a recurring payment.
- The owner may enforce the exclusive rights in a mark by taking recourse to a country’s judicial system.
- The court may, at the request of the owner, prevent any person from attempting to copy or copying a mark thereby tree riding on its reputation or goodwill by selling competing, related or counterfeiting products.
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