With the eradication of monopoly and the availability of technological resources, it becomes extremely difficult to sustain businesses. When you start a business, you do so, to create a unique brand identity in the market. The first step that helps you in doing so, is online trademark registration.
In this blog, we will understand the concept of TM and the steps involved in its registration process.
WHAT IS A TM?
A TM or usually referred to as a trademark, a logo, or a brand name is a unique and distinctive mark that is being used by either an individual or any other form of the entity carrying on trade for profit.
This means all business owners are qualified to get online TM registration for their brands. A registered TM provides many benefits including:
- Protection against infringement;
- Can be a part of financial statements as an Intangible Property asset;
- Builds consumer trust;
- Helps in creating and retaining goodwill in the market;
- Licensing or selling a registered trademark can lead to profit generation; and
- Provides legal proof of your exclusive right over the mark.
ONLINE TM REGISTRATION PROCESS
Earlier, the TM registration process used to take up to 15 to 18 months to complete, without any objections. However, since the inception of the e-filing of trademarks in India, the response time has become 8 to 10 months. This makes logo registration accessible to the majority of the people.
The registration process takes this amount of time because trademark registration is a multi-step process. A detailed guide on all steps is as following:
Filing TM Application:
This is one of the most basic stages of getting online TM registration. Once you have identified your appropriate TM class, and have conducted a thorough search of the journal of trademarks for all existing similar marks, you can apply for the TM Application. It takes around 2 to 3 days to file a trademark application with all the relevant information and documents. Once you file the TM registration application, you can start using the ™ symbol with your mark.
Send to Vienna Codification:
This step of the registration process is only applicable if you apply for a ‘Device’ mark, i.e., an image or a logo of your brand. This is the second step after filing the trademark application.
It assigns a vienna code to the mark, as per the Vienna Agreement. It allows the trademark search of a mark for internal use. This stage is an internal procedure of the trademark registry. Hence, it is one of the stages of trademark registration where the applicant does not have to take any action and wait for the trademark status to change.
Formalities Chk Pass/Fail:
Once you submit your online TM registration application with all relevant documents and information, the trademarks registry of appropriate jurisdiction assigns your mark to a TM officer.
The officer must go through all the information that you provide in the application. This is the first examination and includes a procedural examination of your mark.
If the assigned officer finds any deficit in the information or documentation, he/she issues a report of “Formalities Chk Fail”. In this case, you need to submit a letter to the registry, after correcting the error, within a month of the issuance of this notice.
However, if you have submitted your application without any clerical or documentation errors, your mark will get the status of “Formalities Chk Pass”.
Examination of the Mark
Once the application is free of all clerical and documentation errors, the trademark officer examines the mark as per the grounds of refusal as provided by the governing law. In India, the online Trademark registration process can be objected to on either of these two grounds:
- Relative Grounds for refusal of Trademark Registration; and
- Absolute Grounds for refusal
The officer issues a report, which might either ask you to submit a response to the objection; or will contain the Acceptance order for your mark. If your mark is objected to, you need to file a reply to the examination report within a month of its issuance.
e. Show Cause Hearing
When you reply to the examination report issued by the registry, the officer will go through it, and if they find that it resolves the query, they pass an order of “Acceptance”. If the query is not resolved, they issue a notice for a show cause hearing. Here, you will have to present your points to the officer either in person or through video conferencing. If the officer feels satisfied with your submissions, they will accept your mark.
After acceptance, all applications are advertised in the journal of trademarks for 4 months. This publication provides third parties a chance to oppose the registration of your mark.
f. Registration
After 4 months of advertisement in the journal of trademarks, if no third party opposes your trademark application, you become entitled to registration. That’s when a registration certificate is issued.
CONCLUSION
The world is gradually moving towards digital, and this fact is inevitable. Hence, business owners must start understanding the implications the online world will bring. Online TM registration is not only beneficial to get a legal recognition but also increases customer loyalty and goodwill of your brand.
