You can protect your product or service with a trademark by using any unique expression that distinguishes it from all others. Symbols can range from brand names to logos to slogans to sounds to smells. Trademark registration ensures that your trademark will not be used by anyone else. A trademark search should be conducted by entrepreneurs as early as possible given the rapid growth in trademark registration in recent years. In this way, they can make sure that their trademark name or a similar one is not being used in India by anyone else. The failure to do so may result in your brand name needing to be changed in the future, resulting in confusion for your customers.
Conducting a search
The Comptroller General of Patents, Designs, and Trademarks maintains a trademark search database, which you can use free of charge. You can use it, too, just as thousands of agents and consultants do every day. In addition to trademarks that have been approved, the database includes those that have been recently applied for, those that have been opposed or objected to, and those that have expired.
Identifying potential conflicts between an application and an existing trademark application, or even a registered trademark, is crucial before filing an application. In order to conduct a trademark search, one needs to provide the word mark and the class under which the investigation falls.
There is no difficulty in running the search. Get started by visiting IP India’s relevant page.
- Before you type in the word/s you want to register, select wordmark and select either ‘Starts With’ or ‘Contains’.
- If there is already a registration under that name, the results will tell you. Check its status if there is one. Upon approval, application, objection, or opposition, you must choose another name.
- Make sure your name isn’t taken by another registered name by checking its phonetic similarity. You can do this by selecting the top dropdown menu. Despite the fact that the phonetic search isn’t very accurate, your trademark will be approved if there are no relevant matches here as well.
Unavailable trademark
Identify which class your brand name has been registered under if someone else has already registered it. It may still be possible to register it even if it’s not in the same class. Your application is likely to be approved as long as the brand is not too well known (McDonald’s or Fiat, for example).
Using a composite logo mark would be a good idea if your chances are still low. An example of this would be the registration of a brand name within a logo. There shouldn’t be any problem passing it as long as it differs sufficiently from the mark it clashes with.
Classifications of trademark searches
NICE categorizes Trademarks Search into 45 groups. You should select the correct class for your mark since each class displays a particular category of products and services. The category of the goods and services must be selected before you can proceed.
The classification of goods
* In the case of finished goods, the category depends on their function or purpose. Consumers can compare it with other comparable finished items if the function is not listed. It’s also possible to classify products based on their material of manufacture or their mode of use, if that’s not feasible.
* It is possible to classify finished multi-purpose goods according to any of their functions. You can classify them based on the material they are made of if no function is stated. The operating mode of the product can also be used to classify them.
* You should categorize raw materials, whether untouched or semi-worked, according to their type.
* You can categorize a product based on its predominant material if it was manufactured using different materials.
* Goods that are part of another product are only classified in the same class as the other product. The same type of goods cannot be used for another purpose here.
The classification of services
* Based on the activity divisions listed, the services are categorized. In the explanatory notes to the service classes, they are listed. Otherwise, use other resources from the Alphabetical List if that’s not possible.
* ‘Services provided through rented objects’ is the classification of rental services.
* This category includes all services that provide advice, information, and consultation.
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