What is a Patent?
What rights does a patent provide?
How long does patent protection last?
Is a patent valid in every country?
What can be patented?
What are the criteria of patentability?
What is a trademark?
What is trademark Registration?
Who can apply for a trademark and how ?
What are the benefits of registering a trademark?
How much time will it take to get my trademark registered?
A Patent is a statutory right for an invention granted for a limited period of time to the patentee by the Government, in exchange of full disclosure of his invention for excluding others, from making, using, selling, importing the patented product or process for producing that product for those purposes without his consent.
A patent owner has the right to decide who may – or may not – use the patented invention for the period in which the invention is protected. In other words, patent protection means that the invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed, imported, or sold by others without the patent owner's consent.
Patent protection is granted for a limited period, generally 20 years from the filing date of the application.
Patents are territorial rights. In general, the exclusive rights are only applicable in the country or region in which a patent has been filed and granted, in accordance with the law of that country or region.
An invention relating either to a product or process that is new, involving inventive step and capable of industrial application can be patented. However, it must not fall into the categories of inventions that are non- patentable under sections 3 and 4 of the Act.
An invention is patentable subject matter if it meets the following criteria – i) It should be novel. ii) It should have inventive step or it must be non-obvious iii) It should be capable of Industrial application.
A trademark (popularly known as brand name) in layman’s language is a visual symbol which may be a word signature, name, device, label, numerals or combination of colours used by one undertaking on goods or services or other articles of commerce to distinguish it from other similar goods or services originating from a different undertaking. The legal requirements to register a trademark under the Act are:
The selected mark should be capable of being represented graphically (that is in the paper form).
It should be capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of others.
It should be used or proposed to be used mark in relation to goods or services for the purpose of indicating or so as to indicate a connection in the course of trade between the goods or services and some person have the right to use the mark with or without identity of that person.
Trademark Registration is a legal procedure provided under the Trade Marks Act, 1999. Through trademark registration or you can say logo registration/brand registration, you can protect your brand or logo by restricting other people from using the same.
Any person, claiming to be the proprietor of a trademark used or proposed to be used by him, may apply in writing in prescribed manner for registration. The application should contain the trademark, the goods/services, name and address of applicant and agent (if any) with power of attorney, the period of use of the mark. The application should be in English or Hindi. It should be filed at the appropriate office.
The applications can be submitted personally at the Front Office Counter of the respective office or can be sent by post. These can also be filed on line through the e-filing gateway available at the official website.
The registration of a trademark confers upon the owner the exclusive right to the use the trademark in relation to the goods or services in respect of which the mark is registered and to indicate so by using the symbol (R), and seek the relief of infringement in appropriate courts in the country. The exclusive right is however subject to any conditions entered on the register such as limitation of area of use etc. Also, where two or more persons have registered identical or nearly similar marks due to special circumstances, such exclusive right does not operate against each other.
Trademark Registration is a lengthy process and it takes around 12-16 months to obtain registration in a straight-forward case, without any objections or opposition. However, the trademark application number is usually issued within one or 2 days after filing.