Often, before starting a business, we pay close attention to the feasibility of actually effectively getting a trademark on the brand name. Filing trademarks and obtaining trademark registration is altogether a different recreation.
In case your brand is really specific, there is a chance that you can protect the trademark registration in just 7-8 months (but you could start using your trademark from the date of submission). During this process, one of the reasons you may delay your trademark registration is if you receive an objection from the ministry. Although there is no way to predict or ensure the occurrence of this objection, you can at least try to avoid it by following a few things before applying.
What exactly is the trademark objection? Basically, while you log in to ipindia.nic.in and check the status of your trademark application and it says reputation is OBJECTIVE and there is an alert showing Waiting for response to exam report, it means an exam file has been issued against your Trademark application.
This examination is carried out by the trademark examiners, in which the law motivates why you should no longer obtain the trademark or what are the problems that you must correct in your trademark application. All those objections are uploaded in the form of a file, which you can download from the trademark registry website. It is necessary to respond within 1 month from the date of issuance of the report.
So we will constantly try to stay away from trademark objection but 90% of trademark applications get at least one which can be easily dealt with by any trained attorney (however in case you have to deal with beginning trademark agents who don’t know how to present intelligent arguments, your trademark registration could be stretched). Let us understand how we can further shorten this trademark registration process.
It is very important to match your trademark application according to the law to emerge as your savior and avoid any objections. There are many stories where people spent lakhs and lakhs on the packaging of the products, right after submitting the trademark application. And due to trivial mistakes he had to pay a huge cost while his trademark had been rejected.
- To perform a thorough search.
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Perform both wordmark search and phonetic search.
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Suppose you have chosen the word CURVE as your brand name, so you need to search for the availability of the word CURVE as it is and also KURVE, KARVE, CORVE and all other possible combinations of a word that result in the same sound. or a similar sound.
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Collect search reports and analyze them properly. In case a word with a similar sound is already registered, try choosing another brand.
2. Don’t use descriptive words:
In case your brand is available, proceed to the next level and understand if it is a legally acceptable brand. That is, it must not be descriptive in nature, it may seem strange to you, but trademark law does not allow a mark that accurately describes the nature of your products or goods; however, in general, people tend to opt for such names. That is why it is always advisable to opt for a coined word, words that have no dictionary meaning and that do not make direct reference to your products or merchandise.
For example, a name such as “hair gloss” should not be chosen for a shampoo, because an ordinary person may deduce that it is some product related to hair care, which is expressly prohibited by the Trademark Law.
3. Do not use the name of any geographical location
Try to avoid using a name of any geographic location or place such as India, although it can be made clearer if used in combination of words, but in general, in most cases, such trademarks are often challenged under from section 9.
4. Do not make any administrative errors
The most common mistake people make when filing a trademark application is writing the wrong description of the goods/services. Even if you are sure that your product belongs to a certain class, try not to use a common term for it. Always check the exact language provided in the nice rating, select the words and description accordingly. Let us understand this more clearly by taking an example.
Salt falls into class 30, but you won’t find the term rock salt or black salt in class 30, so it’s best to avoid this in the description, as salt and related items will be well covered within the term salt. and as black or rock salt. salt is not specified in class 30, there is a high probability that the examiner will object to this word in the description. Not only will this increase the chance of an objection on your exam report, but there will also be an associated cost.
In case you need to register a Trademark and be free from any possibility of trademark objection and get a successful trademark registration, please comply with the points mentioned above. Any knowledgeable attorney will take the above points into account and have precise arguments and descriptions so that your trademark application is free of loopholes that can be exploited by an examiner.
These precautionary measures not only help ensure the registration of a trademark safely but also quickly.