How Trademark Registration Prevents Brand Infringement?

The Trademark Act 1999 is an important piece of legislation governing trademarks, patents, and designs in India. The act led to the appointment of a Registrar of Trademarks to be known as CGPDTM (Controller General of Patents, Design, and Trademarks).

The legislation provides exclusive rights to the trademark owners that deter any individual from using their mark without prior consent. Trademarks are the cornerstone on which companies create their brand reputation, goodwill, and image. Thus, any blow to the trademark can potentially impact these aspects of the business, causing their operations to take a setback and surge in overall entrepreneurial costs.

Let’s understand how brand and trademark registration safeguard every enterprise from trademark infringement, types of infringements, and effective methodologies to seek remedial benefits.

What is Trademark Infringement within the TM Framework?

Before we understand trademark infringement, it is essential to understand why trademark registration is important and why one should even register if it’s not mandatory.

A trademark could be anything, from a catchy logo, a specific colour combination, or a musical jingle, to a different packaging style.

Businesses brainstorm these elements and start using the mark in their marketing, advertising, product packaging, and while rending their services. However, they often fail to consider registering it with the concerned officials and list them in the trademarks registry. With time, companies reach an immense height of success, customers start attaching them to brands that value quality and commitment, their market share soars to unprecedented levels, and where the trademark becomes the face of the business. However, one day, a corporation comes out with the same counterfeited product and starts endorsing it through deceptively similar marks.
This will not only deceive and confuse the customers but can also cause a significant blow to the reputation and market share of the original business.

Thus, having a Brand Name Registration or trademark registration allows companies to seek legal actions against these offenders, pursue charges for compensation, help in creating a unique identity, and prevent competitors from capitalizing on their brand name, reputation, and goodwill.

Brands can commercially lease their trademark to other companies and individuals by entering into contracts, with terms agreed upon by both parties and for a nominal fee or royalties. Companies can use franchising, merchandising, or co-branding opportunities that allow third parties to use the trademark. However, if such parties use the trademark without obtaining the permission of the mark’s owner beforehand, it is considered a case of trademark infringement.

Direct and Indirect Infringement under Trademark

Through Brand registration, companies can take a proactive approach to safeguarding their intellectual property, i.e., their trademark. The mark creates a unique identity and allows customers to easily identify and differentiate the company from others. The mark serves as a notice to the public, indicating its
source of origin and quality of products and services.

Trademark infringement is categorized into two types namely direct infringement and indirect infringement. Direct infringement occurs when an unauthorized individual or company uses a strikingly similar or completely identical mark without prior permission of the trademark owner. On the other hand, indirect infringement is detected when a company that is not directly involved in the infringement but has encouraged or assisted another entity in the offense.

Managing and Protecting Trademark Ownership Rights involves various steps including conducting a trademark search and trademark monitoring post-registration. This allows brands to continuously keep track and watch over filed, accepted, and advertised trademark that potentially infringes on their own mark and can cause harm to their business. Undertake these steps to early detect such instances and stop potential infringements by issuing cease and desist orders and using other approaches.

What are Trademark Remedies in Case of Infringement?

In any country that has laid down acts and rules to safeguard trademarks, patents, or copyrights, their infringement becomes a cognizable offense. It means that authorities have the right to arrest the offender, impose fines, and conduct a criminal investigation.

Within brand and trademark registration, trademark remedies refer to legal actions that safeguard companies in case their trademark is used without their permission. It is a judicial relief exercised by the companies and through which these entities can ask offenders to compensate for the harm they inflicted on their business.

Civil Remedies: Civil remedies within the trademark registration involve imposition of injunction orders, seeking compensation for damages, and other steps through an order of court.

• Injunctions: Injunctions are court orders compelling an offender to stop doing the specific action that causes harm or damage to the aggrieved party. In case of trademark infringement, the court can order the offender to stop using the mark. Injunction can be permanent or temporary.
• Damages: An aggrieved company can seek compensation for the damages caused by the offender. Compensation can be in the form of reimbursing monetary amounts and additional amounts for intangible damages caused to the business.
• Account of Profits: Imagine a company that stole the mark of a well-established brand and earned a huge amount of profits by capitalizing on its goodwill and reputation. In this case, the original owner of the trademark can ask the infringer to disclose their earned amount and surrender all of the profits accumulated through unauthorized use of the mark.
• Passing Off: Passing off is an act of selling goods and services with a trademark that is deceptively similar to another brand’s trademark. This is mainly done to deceive the customers into believing they are buying the original products.
• Seizure of Infringed Goods: The court can order the authorities to seize and destroy counterfeit goods or products that bear an infringed mark.
• Cancellation of Trademarks: The court can issue orders to cancel the trademark registration of an individual or company that has infringed on the mark of others.

Criminal Remedies: Criminal actions punish offenders through legal proceedings and deter them from future offenses. Sections 103, 104, and 105 of the Trademarks Act 1999 lay down guidelines on criminal remedies for trademark infringement in India.

• Imprisonment: Trademark Registration empowers brands to take legal action which may conclude with severe criminal charges and imprisonment. In India, contravening the Trademark Act 1999 regulations can lead to the imposition of imprisonment of a minimum of 6 months, extending up to 3 years.
• Fines and Penalties: In India, infringing on the trademark of any existing brand can also attract penalties and fines of a minimum of INR 50,000. This can be increased up to INR 2 Lakhs.
• Criminal Lawsuits: Any aggrieved party under the trademark infringement can approach the magistrate to file a complaint or register a First Information Report (FIR) at the local police department.

Avail our services to seamlessly secure your trademark registration certificate, conduct trademark search, and trademark monitoring, and Ultimate Guide to Online Trademark Registration in India.

Trademark Registration Protecting Companies In India

TM registration protects brands from counterfeit goods and fraudulent practices undertaken by any competitive firm or unknown third party. The mark helps in building credibility and makes the brand stand out in the congested market. It demonstrates the upholding of integrity and professionalism by the brand, acts as a key piece of document in case the company decides to go global, and deters anyone from capitalizing on its growth so far. And bonus points, a brand can also generate a source of additional revenue through their registered trademark by leasing, co-branding, and franchising opportunities.

Final Thoughts

Before initiating the Brand registration or any other form of trademark registration, it is crucial to gain comprehensive insights into its regulatory process. For instance, a trademark search is an essential step that helps the applicant understand whether the proposed mark to the authorities is available for use or not. It will also help in analyzing whether it infringes on a mark already registered with the Trademarks Registry.

A trademark is a valuable business asset that must be proactively safeguarded to maintain the link between business and customers. The longer someone else uses your mark, the vaguer and more ambiguous your mark will become in the eyes of customers. The infringement will harm your market share, your sales and revenue, your customer base, and eventually your position in the market. Reach out to the trademark professionals of Legal Raasta who possess years of experience and profound knowledge concerning trademark registration in all the major countries of the globe.