Introduction

The term intellectual property means the creation of the mind. The intellectual property is intangible property. The trademark is part of the Intellectual Property. Other kinds of intellectual property are copyright, patent, geographical index, design, etc.

The protection of the intellectual property is important because it is the creation of one’s own mind. One produces them after a lot of research and a lot of thinking. The law of trademarks is used to protect logos, symbols or color combinations or a combination of these.

The law of trademarks is described under the ‘THE TRADE MARKS ACT, 1999’. As per the act, a trademark is defined under section 2(zb) as a mark being represented graphically and which is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of others and may include the shape of goods, their packaging, and the combination of colors.

Importance

The symbol of trademarks serves two important purposes:

1. It protects the goods and services from infringement. No other user can use the same logo, packaging, symbol or any other combination.
2. The symbol of trademarks describes the authenticity of the goods and services. The symbol of ‘R’ in a circle on the products describes that they are being produced by the same producer as to who have registered them.

One more important feature of protecting the goods and services under the trademarks act is that when your goods have a symbol of ‘R’ in a circle, you can file a case of infringement of the trademark.

Grounds of Refusal of Trademark Registration 

Section 9 and section 11 of the Act provides for the Absolute and Relative grounds for the refusal of registration of trademarks, respectively. Under the absolute grounds of refusal of registration:

• It cannot distinguish the goods or services of one person from those of another.
• Describe the characteristics of goods or services.
• Cause confusion as to deceive the public.
• Hurt the religious sentiments of any group of people.
• It contains obscene matter.
• The Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 prohibits it.
• Gives substantial value to the goods.

One shall not get registered, the goods that are similar and identical to the already registered product. The authority gives trademarks well known as a special preference.

Furthermore, The World Trade Organization initiated the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights [TRIPS]. The TRIPS agreement is the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on intellectual property. The agreement came into force on 1^st January 1995 and at present all WTO members are parties to it that is 162.

Conclusion

Some acts which can be done to protect the trademark are:

1. Firstly, Before filling for the application of a trademark,  we should conduct a national and international search.
2. Secondly, The trademark should have the originality in it. The trademark that describes the quality and characteristics of the product should, therefore the trademark should be designed and invented genuinely.
3. Thirdly, As soon as the trademark originates, its registration starts. No person can use your trademark after registration.
4. Lastly, After, the registration of the trademark has completed the supply and display of goods in the public should be increased. Furthermore, More and more should be able to recognize the brand and that will help them in acknowledging other products of that particular brand.

Moreover, It requires a lot of effort to create an Intellectual property. Therefore, the state should implement the laws made to safeguard intellectual property.