A trademark is a unique symbol to distinguish various goods or services from different providers/brands in the market. These unique symbols are a helping tool for the customers to identify the products and brand. Also, these copyright marks help the brand owners advertise their products and services effectively in the marketplace. Trademarks may be formed by the shape of goods, type of packaging or colours used in a product. 

After a trademark is registered, no other individual or company could use the same for their promotion in any way. Doing so enables the owner of the trademark to go for trademark litigation to get justice.

Reasons To Register a Trademark

There are many reasons why registering a trademark is essential for new start-ups. Listed below are some of them.

Face of Brand

Trademarks work as an identifying symbol for recognition of the business in the market.

Legal Safety

Registering a trademark is necessary as it protects your original company/brand name from being copied. In case of such an occurrence, the owner of the copyright trademark has complete rights to sue the accused.

Value addition

Registered trademarks work as value-adding assets to your company/brand. Customers associate the trademark with the brand to judge the value of the brand. It increases the target audience and implies a positive reputation.

Validation

In today's era, no brand is devoid of competition. It is hard for a new firm to get a position right away within. However, registering a trademark gives your business validation in this highly saturated market.

Infringement of Registered Trademark

Registering trademarks is necessary to avoid brand identity infringement. However, there have been cases of people being accused of illegally using another brand’s name. An infringement of registered trademarks is defined as “violating exclusive rights that are linked to a registered trademark without the permission of the registered owner”. 

As the cases for the same rose, the government made an amendment in the constitution regarding the case of an infringement of registered trademark under section 29 of the Trademarks act 1999, which included some situations like:

Direct Infringement

A registered trademark is infringed when an unauthorised or not legally permitted person uses the registered trademark without the permission of the trademark owner. 

A registered trademark is infringed when an unauthorised person/brand uses a similar-looking or identical or deceptively similar mark to the registered mark in relation to the same goods or services.

Using the same mark as a registered trademark confuses mind of people/consumers regarding the products and services under the registered trademark, resulting in infringement of the registered trademark.

Indirect Infringement

When the person knows about infringement, contributes to direct infringement and induces the principal infringer to commit infringement, it is called Contributory infringement.

Conclusion

Registering trademarks gives the trademark owner i.e. businesses the power of originality and uniqueness. It ensures that no other person can use the same symbol/trademark which is already registered. It ensures that there is no unfair use of one’s name by any other brand/people. The government has also protected this right under The trademark act, which itself shows the importance of registering your trademark.