Your trademark is the identity of your business and you need to enforce your rights to help protect your image in the market. Trademark technicalities can help protect your brand from being infringed upon.

Trademark infringement in a general scenario

Today, the world of business is facing cut-throat competition at every nook and corner of the global arena.

With new products and ideas being copied almost instantly after being launched, it is now inevitable that the new age business owner instantly registers his product and obtains a Trademark in respect to his product or service mark with respect to a service.

Trademark Infringement is a serious crime which can result in catastrophic circumstances for the copied brand in terms of losing market share and for the thieving brand in terms of payment of punitive damages and causes loss to the other party by spoiling its image in the market.

A party which files lawsuit is always right?

No,  it is not always necessary that the party which files the lawsuit is on the right side because there may be cases where a company registers a name but does not use it for a long period of time.

A brand may lose its market share; thereby leading to massive economic losses due to dilution of its product identity.

In such a case, the accused party can plead not guilty as it is using the name which is not being used by the accuser and is just registered for the sake of it.

No penalties can be levied in such a case and the lawsuit itself can be held void.

Know the Trademark technicalities

There are various technicalities associated even if a name has been registered as a Trademark.

• The registered ® symbol is mandatory to determine the applicability of lawsuits and can be the separating point between winning and losing the lawsuit.
• A Trademark can be registered even if it is for future use in advance so as to avoid any shortcomings in the future.
• The registration of the Trademark ranges from a few months up to 2-3 years.
• It is not mandatory that the product be bought by people for a Trademark to be utilized, it should suffice that the product is in circulation in the market.

Legal assistance in case of infringement

A copied product or even an original product with the same name, but in the same category of goods which have been copied can seek legal assistance.

Following is the procedure of filing a law suit:

• An aggrieved party can file a grievance redressal or a lawsuit in case another brand has misused its name.
• A cease and decease letter is sent as a notice to the infringer which is usually more easy and less time consuming than a lawsuit.
• If the infringer continues to use the copied name and refuses to comply, a lawsuit may be filed.
• The infringer becomes solely liable to compensate for the losses borne by the brand owning to the infringer's wrongdoings and he will be compelled by law to pay the adequate damages for his actions.