Identify the incorrect statement
Q1. Identify the incorrect statement
1) A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services produced or provided by one enterprise from those of other enterprises.
2) Registration of a trademark is a compulsory requirement to protect its marks around the world.
3) Registration of a trademark is generally valid for 10 years, and it may be renewed indefinitely provided renewal fees are paid in time.
4) A trademark provides protection to the owner of the mark by ensuring the exclusive right to use it to identify goods or services, or to authorize another to use it in return for payment.
Answer : 3)
Trademark protection can be obtained through registration or, in some countries, also through use. For example, trademark rights are initially created automatically by using the trademark in commerce in all common law countries, such as the U.S.A, UK, India, etc. Even though trademarks are protected through use, it is advisable to register a trademark, as registration provides much stronger protection and make it much easier for the trademark owner to prove its case in court.
Q2. Identify the incorrect statement
1) Designers should file an application before the national office in order to register a design.
2) An industrial design provides its owner the exclusive right to prevent unauthorized copying or imitation by third parties. This includes the right to exclude all others from making, offering, putting on the market, importing, exporting, using, selling, or stocking for such purposes by others of product in which the design is incorporated or to which it is applied.
3) An industrial design may protect the structural of functional features of an article of manufacture.
4) In most countries, registration is compulsory to protect a creative design. However, some countries protect an unregistered design for a short period.
Answer : 3)
An industrial design protects the ornamental appearance of a goods, not its structural or functional features. An article protected under an industrial design law must be primarily ornamental and not primarily functional. Therefore, to obtain exclusivity over the functional improvements of a product, you may apply for a patent or utility model protection. However, in determining whether a design is primarily functional or primarily ornamental, the claimed design is viewed in its entirety, not on a feature-by-feature basis. It is often the case that a new product combines functional improvements with innovative aesthetic features. In such a case, it would be better to apply for the protection of both a patent and an industrial design.
Q3. Identify the incorrect statement:
1) A proposed word mark must be easy to read, spell, pronounce and remember.
2) A proposed mark should not be identical or confusingly similar to existing marks in the relevant category of products.
3) A proposed mark should be descriptive of the product or of one or more its key features so that customers are be able to easily associate the mark with the product
4) A proposed mark should not have any undesirable or negative connotations in any of the relevant languages in the domestic or export markets.
Answer: 3)
A mark which is descriptive of the product to which it pertains cannot help in differentiating it from identical or similar products offered by competitors in the market place. Further, monopoly over descriptive terms constrains the legitimate desire of competitors to use ordinary works to describe the characteristics of the products while advertising the products. The strongest marks are those which are coined or "fanciful" words followed by marks that use words that have a meaning which has no relation to the product they advertise.
