A name or brand name gives an identity to your business. A business is almost always referred or reviewed by its name only. Location of the business or people managing it may change but you can always keep the brand name of your business. The name also acquires goodwill, trust, and reputation among its customers overtime. The business name also gives a sense of reliability, value for money, good quality, etc. for its goods or services.
Almost always it is seen that when a business name gains popularity and goodwill among customers, other people start imitating identical or similar name which confuses customers. For instance, if a business having name “Naveen Medicals” or “Bharat Jalpaan” becomes famous and gains some goodwill in the locality, several businesses with the same or similar names come up like mushrooms in the vicinity. They offer similar looking goods or services and hope to gain some customers and make some money at the expense of the real business owner who has built his business over the years by investing considerable time, effort, money, and his sweat and blood.
Apart from financial losses, the defrauding new business houses also tends to harm the goodwill and reputation of the real business. For instance, a person who have heard a lot about the shop named “Maner Sweets” comes to the city and innocently visits and buys sweets from a defrauding shop having the same name, and later finds that the sweets are of poor quality. In all probability, he will tell ten people that I bought sweets from Maner Sweets but it was not good. However, in reality he did not buy the sweets from the real “Maner Sweets”.
WHAT IS TRADEMARK?
To prevent others from misusing your brand name, you must register your trademark as you can not initiate any legal proceeding to prevent or recover damages for infringement of any un-registered trademark in India. Trademark Registration is the most efficacious mechanism to protect and preserve your business/brand name as it will prevent others from misusing your business name.
Trademark simply means the name in which you are doing your trade. It is basically name of your business. A logo, symbol, words, numerals, or combination thereof can also be registered as Trademark. The process of Registering your business name or logo with the Trademark Registry is called Trademark Registration.
Registration of trademark gives exclusive right to its proprietor to use the trademark. No one else can legally use your trademark without your written consent. If anyone uses a mark which is identical or deceptively similar to the registered trademark, or which shows a likely association with the registered trademark, or it is calculated to confuse the public would be termed as trademark infringement.
Proprietor of the registered trademark have various legal remedies against a trademark infringement like injunction, damages, and account of profits. Trademark Infringement is also a criminal offence and the trademark infringer can be imprisoned up to three years and fined up to Two Lakh Rupees.
A registered trademark also becomes an asset of the business. Monetary Value of the Coca-Cola Trademark is valued at 106.1 billion U.S. dollars.
Trademark registration is not mandatory in India. However, the benefits of registering a trademark is so huge and disadvantages of not registering a trademark are so massive that it is strongly advised to register your trademark.
HOW MUH IT COSTS TO REGISTER A TRADEMARK?
It costs only a few thousand rupees to get a trademark registered. Government Fee for filing a Trademark Application is only Rs.4,500. Cost of Trademark Registration is inexpensive and the statutory rights and protection it offers is very essential for any business in this age of trade and commerce.
HOW CAN WE HELP IN TRADEMARK REGISTERATION?
We have experienced Trademark Consultants who are well versed with the trademark laws and rules and procedures of the Trademark Registry. They offer their services at a very competitive price. All you need to do is to fill this Enquiry from and one of our representatives will get back to you in no time.