Module 4 : Copyrights and

Related Rights
• Copyrights‘ refer to the legal rights provided by law to the original creator
of the work in the fields of literature and computer software.
• The “Related Rights‘ encompass the author‘s work in the fields of
dramatics, sound recording, film/video recordings, paintings, architecture,
etc.
• Copyrights and Related Rights are one of the categories of IP and governed
by the Copyright Act, 1957 of India.
• The term ‘author’ refers to an individual who develops the content (of
work). The author can be a writer (literary work), computer programmer
(software), composer (musical work), producer (cinema films, sound
recording), photographer (photos).
• The term ‘work’ is a task undertaken in the fields of literature, dramas,
music, artistic, cinematograph film and sound recording.
Classes of Copyrights
In India, Six classes of Copyrights exist:
Literature: Books, Essays, Research articles, Oral speeches, Lectures,
Compilations, Computer programme, Software, Databases.
Dramatics: Screenplays, Dramas.
Sound Recordings: Recording of sounds regardless of the medium on which such
recording is made e.g. a Phonogram and a CD-ROM
Artistic: Drawing, Painting, Logo, Map, Chart, Photographs, Work of Architecture,
Engravings, and Craftsmanship.
Musical: Musical notations, excluding any words or any action intended to be
sung, spoken or performed with the music. A musical work need not be written
down to enjoy Copyright protection.
Cinematograph Films:’Cinematograph Film‘ is a visual recording performed by
any medium, formed through a process and includes a sound recording. For
example, Motion Pictures, TV Programmes, Visual Recording, Sound Recording,
etc.
Criteria for Copyright
• To qualify for Copyright protection, a work must exist in some physical
(or tangible) form.
• The duration of the existence of the physical form may vary from a
very short period to many years.
• The Copyright work has to be expressed by the creator in his frame of
thought. Or In other words, the work has to be original i.e. the author
created it from independent thinking void of duplication.
• This type of work is termed as an Original Work of Authorship
(OWA). It may appear similar to already existing works but should not
be the same.
• The original work may lack quality or quantity or aesthetic merit or all
these parameters; still, it will pass the test of copyrightable work.
• In addition to originality for the work, Copyright protection also requires at
least some creative effort on the part of the author.
• There is no minimum limit for the extent of creativeness. It is a subjective
matter. The minimal level of creativity needed for Copyright protection
depends on the judgment of the evaluator (adjudicated by the Office of
Registrar of Copyright).
• As an example,
mere changing the dimensions of a book will not be granted Copyright
protection.
Similarly, an address book of alphabetically arranged telephone numbers
does not qualify for Copyright protection as it involves a straightforward
alphabetical listing of phone numbers rather than a creative selection of
listings.
Copyrights of the Author
• The Copyrights of the creator/author are legally protected under
Section 14 of the Copyright Act, 1957.
• The content (i.e. work) created by the author cannot be used or
published by anyone without the author‘s consent.
• Copyrights provide exclusive rights to the author in the areas of
publication, distribution, and usage.
• A Copyright owner enjoys two types of rights i.e. Economic Rights (or
Proprietary Rights) and Moral Rights (or Personal Rights).
• Economic Rights are associated with financial benefits accruing from
the sale of copyrights.
• As per the Act, Copyright owners can authorize or prohibit:
Reproduction of the work in any form, including printed publications
or sound recordings.
 Distribution of copies of the work.
 Public performance of the work.
 Broadcasting/communicating the work to the public.
Translating the work into other languages.
Adaptation of the work, such as converting a novel into a screenplay.
• Moral Rights include ‘Right of Paternity‘ and ‘Right of Integrity‘.
• The ‘Right of Paternity‘ - even if the Copyright has been licensed to
another party, the original author of the work retains the right to
claim authorship i.e. the name of the author/s will remain even
though Copyrights have been transferred to another party e.g. a book
publisher.
• The ‘Right of Integrity‘- the original author has the right to prevent
misuse of the work e.g. alterations/additions/ deletions in work
resulting in misrepresentation of the said work or harming the honor
and reputation of the author.
• It is pertinent to mention that for a work, there can be more than
one rights holders, for instance, a musical sound recording has many
rights holders, such as the lyricist, music composer, singer, musicians
and sound recorders.
Ownership of Copyright

• The Copyright laws clearly state the ownership of Copyright.

• The person who created the work is considered as the first (original)
holder (owner) of the Copyright.
• In case the author is an employee and has been contracted to do the
work by a proprietor (of the company/firm/society /organization, etc.),
the owner of the Copyright shall be the proprietor.
• The government will be the primary owner of the government work in
the absence of any kind of arrangement.
• The person delivering a speech is the first owner of the Copyright.
•
• To obtain permission to use copyrighted material, a request for the
same should be made to the legal owner (of the copyrighted
material), which could be the original author, the legal heir (in case of
the death of the author), publisher, etc.
The request must mention the following:
 Title, author and/or editor, and edition.
Precise material to be used.
 The number of copies.
 The purpose of the material e.g. educational, research, etc.
Form of distribution e.g. hard copy to classroom, posted on the
internet.
 Whether the material is to be sold e.g. as part of a course pack.
Copyright Infringements
As per the Copyrights Acts, 1957, the following acts are regarded as an
infringement of Copyrights:
Making copies for sale or hire or selling or letting them for hire
without permission.
Permitting any place for the performance of owned work (in public)
where such performance constitutes an infringement of Copyright.
 Distributing infringing copies for trade or to such an extent to affect
the interest of the owner of the Copyright prejudicially.
 Public exhibition of infringing copies for trade purposes.
 Importation of infringing copies.
 Translating a work without the permission of the owner.
Liability of Owner of an Auditorium/Hall
• The owner of an auditorium/hall is liable for punishment if he
knowingly allows his premises to be used for communication of illegal
copyright material (songs, music, dramas, etc.) to the public.
• If a person permits for profit any place to be used for communicating
the work to the public, where such communication establishes an
infringement of the Copyright unless he was not aware of and had no
reasonable ground for believing that such communication to the
public would be an infringement of Copyright, he will be deemed to
have committed an offence under the Copyright Act.
Copyright Infringement is a Criminal Offence
• According to Section 63 of the Copyright Act, 1957, if any person
knowingly infringes the Copyright, he qualifies for the criminal
offence.
• The punishment awarded for the infringement (of Copyright) is
imprisonment for six months with the minimum fine of ₹50,000/-.
• In case of a second and subsequent conviction, the minimum
punishment is imprisonment for one year and a fine of ₹ 1,00,000.
• There is a dedicated IP division to deal with Copyright cases.
• Also, there is a Copyright Board constituted by the Central
Government in 1958 to adjudicate certain claims about Copyright.
Copyright Infringement is a
Cognizable Offence
• A police officer (rank of a sub-inspector or higher) can confiscate the
infringed Copyright material without issuing a warrant and produce
the same in the court of law.
Fair Use Doctrine
• Any person not possessing a valid license from the owner of the Copyright is not
entitled to exploit the said work.
• However, Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957, provides for certain exceptions
to the infringement of Copyright.
• limited use of Copyrighted materials for teaching and research purposes is legally
permitted, under “The Fair Use Doctrine‘, which comprises of the four-part test:
The character of the use - use of the work is purely educational, non-profit and
personal.
 Nature of the work - The use of work is factual in nature and not imaginative.
Amount of the portion to be used - permission is not needed if only a small
portion of Copyright protected material is to be used.
 Impact of use on the value of the Copyrighted material - If a small portion of the
work is copied and is not affecting the author‘s economic and moral rights, it will
be excused from the infringement.
Few examples of the Fair Use Doctrine are as follows:
If the Copyrighted work is used for personal use i.e. studies or research.
Quotation mentioned in the Copyrighted work.
 Reporting of current events in the media, such as newspapers, magazines or
radios/television.
 Reproduction of the work by teachers or scientific researchers.
 Performance is free of charge by government officials in the performance of
their duties e.g. reproduction of any work for a judicial proceeding or a report
of a judicial proceeding.
 Use of any work prepared by the Secretariat of a Legislature.
 Use of the work in a certified copy made or supplied in accordance with any
law for the time being in force.
 Making three or less than three copies of a book (including a pamphlet, sheet
of music, map, chart or plan).
 Bonafide religious ceremony, including a marriage function.
Copyrights and Internet
• The twenty-first century is an era of digitization. The Copyrighted data is quickly
transmitted via the internet.
• One should be careful of Copyright/fair use principles when downloading material
from the internet.
• In general, posting material on the internet by the Copyright owner gives an
internet user the right to use that material for his personal use, but he cannot use
the work for commercial purposes.
• Electronic distribution of a Copyrighted work should mention the statement that
“This work is protected by Copyright laws and is provided for educational
instruction only. Any infringing use may be subject to disciplinary action and/or
civil or criminal liability as provided by law”.
• As per Section 2(o) of the Copyright Act, 1957, “Literary Work‘ includes computer
programmes, tables and compilations, including computer databases. It is
mandatory to supply ‘Source Code‘ and ‘Object Code‘ along with the application
for registration of Copyright.
Non-Copyright Work
• The works not under the jurisdiction of Copyrights are as follows:
The ideas, concepts, and principles themselves cannot be protected under
Copyright, only the form in which they are expressed can be copyrighted.
 Facts, such as scientific or historical discoveries, are not copyright
protected. Any fact a person discovers in the course of research cannot be
Copyright protected. For example, an author of a book on ‘Buddhism‘
takes ten-fifteen years to gather all the necessary materials and
information for his work. At a great expense, the author travels to various
museums, libraries and excavations sites. However, after the book is
published, anyone is free to use the underlying facts, provided they
express the information on their own.
 Copyright does not protect titles, names, slogans, short phrases, short
word combinations, methods, or factual information.
Certificates are not considered as Copyrightable subject matter as there is not much
scope for creativity.
 Digitally created works and Copyrighted works transformed into a digital format and
placed on the internet are Copyright protected.
 The Copyright registration for a website, as a whole, is not possible. However,
different components/rudiments of a website can be granted Copyright registration
e.g. computer programmes /software, compilations including computer databases
(‘literary works‘); photographs, paintings, diagram, map, chart or plan (‘artistic works‘);
and works consisting of music including graphical notation of such work (‘musical
works‘). However, a separate application for each component of work has to be filed
for seeking Copyright registration.
 A computer or mobile App qualifies for Copyright registration. An Application is a
complete, self-contained computer program that is designed to perform a specific task.
An App usually has dynamic content and is designed for user interaction. It may be
used directly or indirectly in a computer or handheld electronic device.
 If someone swipes your picture/song/video from the internet and uses it for their
purposes, it is a Copyright infringement. By the way - the same is true if you nick some
else‘s material for your purposes.
Interesting Copyrights Cases
• David vs. Macaques, Indonesia, 2011 - In 2011, a UK-based photographer
David Slater put his camera on a tripod in the wildlife sanctuary to click the
photograph of Macaques monkeys. The Macaques were very curious about
the equipment and they found the flashlight fascinating. One monkey
clicked a selfie photograph which became very famous and legally
controversial on the matter of Copyright. Theoretically, the monkey is the
holder of Copyright as he clicked the photo. Practically, David Slater was the
claimant of the Copyright. The dispute entered judicial quarters between
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and David Slater. Now,
the settlement has been concluded. The photographer i.e. David Slater
withholds the Copyright of the picture for having a substantial contribution,
but he would pay 25% of the royalty share to the wildlife sanctuary where
the monkey lives (https://www. wipo.int/
wipo_magazine/en/2018/01/article_0007.html).
• Happy birthday to you’ case law - According to the Guinness World
Records, 1998, it is the most recognized song in the English language.
The melody of ‘Happy Birthday to You‘ originates from the song ‘Good
Morning to All‘, which has traditionally been attributed to American
Sisters, namely Patty Smith Hill and Mildred J. Hill, in 1893. The sisters
composed the melody of ‘Good Morning to All‘ to make it more
interesting for the children. In 1935, Summy Company registered the
Copyright on the Piano Setting on the Song. In 1999 Warner/Chappell
acquired the company and started taking royalty for the happy
birthday song and earned a huge amount. After mediation by the
Federal court, Warner Music, through its publishing subsidiary
Warner/Chappell, agreed to pay the settlement to a class of
‗thousands of people and entities‘ who had paid licensing fees to use
the song since 1949 because only the melody was registered and not
the lyrics. Now the song is in the public domain.
• Amitabh Bachchan to lose Copyrights over his father’s works in 2063
- Father of renowned actor Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, (late) Shree
Harivansh Rai Bachchan was a noted poet and Hindi writer. His most
famous work was Madhushaala (1935). He was the recipient of the
Sahitya Akademi award and the Padma Bhushan. He also did Hindi
translations of Shakespeare‘s Macbeth and Othello. He passed away
on 18th January 2003, at the age of 95. As per the Copyright Act,
1957, the rights over his work will be completed in the year 2063
(rights remain with the author for his lifetime plus 60 years).
Validity of Copyright
• In general, the validity of Copyright is for 60 years. This period starts
either from the year after the death of the author (in case of
literature, dramatic, musical and artistic works) or from the date of
publication of the work (in case of cinematograph films, sound
recordings, photographs, posthumous publications, works of
government and works of international organisations).
Copyright Registration
• It is not necessary to register a work to claim Copyright. Once a work is created via
any medium, the work receives automatic Copyright safety
• It is merely a prima facie proof of an entry in respect of the work in the Copyright
register maintained by the Registrar of Copyrights.
• It is advisable that the author of the work registers for Copyright for better legal
protection.
• In India, Copyrights matters, including Copyright registration, are administered
under the Copyright Act, 1957 and Copyrights Rule, 2013.
• Usually, it takes around 2-3 months to get the work registered by the Copyright
Office.
• After applying, there is a mandatory waiting period of 30 days. If any person has
any objection to the claim/s made in the application, he can contact the office of
the Registrar of Copyrights. After giving an opportunity of hearing to both the
parties, the Registrar may decide the case in favour or against the author of the
work. Once the objections (if any) are cleared, the application is evaluated by the
examiners. If any doubts/queries are raised, the applicant is given ample time
(around 45 days) to clear these objections.
Transfer of Copyrights to a Publisher
• The original authors of the Copyrighted work may not have the wherewithal to widely publicise
their work.
• Usually, they transfer their rights to publishers for financial benefits, which could be a one-
time lump sum amount or royalties or a combination of the two.
• However, transferring Copyrights unconditionally to the publishers (or anybody else) may have
some repercussions for the owner of the Copyright.
 A publisher may prevent author/s from displaying their articles on the institute‘s websites.
 The new owner of Copyright may not even allow the author to revise his work.
 In other instances, a publisher might print an insufficient number of hard copies and also does
not show interest in uploading the soft copy of the work on the internet.
• Hence, one must be careful in signing an agreement with the publishers.
• The author may not transfer all the legal rights bestowed upon him as an author.
• An agreement may be signed permitting only the print and sale of hard copies by the
publishers while retaining digital rights for the said work.
• An author may also put a time limit for the printing and sale of the books/articles, etc.
• Before the digital era, authors used to rely completely on publishers for the
dissemination of their work.
• However, in the internet era, the dependency on publishers has almost diminished.
• The author is in a position to bypass the publishers and bring his work in to the
public domain.
• But this freedom cannot be enjoyed by those who are already under the publishing
contract.
• Even though the author has completely and exclusively licensed out his work, the
Copyright Act has a provision under ‘termination of transfer’ to reclaim his
Copyright.
• Under this provision, certain Copyright agreements can be terminated after 35 years
of the agreement.
• This statutory termination right applies even though it is not incorporated in the
agreement.
• It is strongly advised that authors must apply their mind while signing the
Copyright agreement.
Copyrights and the Word ‘Adaptation’

• In the world of Copyright, the word ‘Adaptation‘ signifies the creation

of a similar work based upon contemporary work.
• The Copyright Act defines the following actions as adaptations:
a) Transformation of a dramatic work into a non-dramatic work.
b) Changing a literary or artistic work into a drama.
c) Re-arrangement of a literary or dramatic work.
d) Depiction through pictures of a literary or dramatic work.
e) The making of a cinematograph film of a literary or dramatic or
musical work.
Copyrights and the Word ‘Indian
Work’
• ‘Indian work‘ means a literary, dramatic or musical work provided
• The author of the work is an Indian citizen.
• The work is first published in India.
• In the case of an unpublished work, at the time of the making of the
work, the author of the work was a citizen of India
Joint Authorship ‘Work of Joint Authorship‘ means a work produced
by the collaboration of two or more authors in which the contribution
of one author is not distinct from the contribution of the other author
or authors.
Copyright Society
• Many a time, authors and other owners of Copyrights are either
unable or lose track of all the uses of their work, including the
collection of royalties, infringement issues, etc.
• To overcome these hurdles, Copyright Societies have cropped up.
• Society can perform the following functions:
 Keep track of all the rights and infringements related to their clients
Issue licences in respect of the rights administered by the society.
 Collect fees in pursuance of such licences.
 Distribute such fees among owners of Copyright after making
deductions for the administrative expenses.
• A Copyright Society can be formed by a group of seven or more
copyright holders.
• The term of registration of a Copyright Society is for five years.
• The registered Copyright Societies in India are:
Society for Copyright Regulation of Indian Producers for Film and
Television (SCRIPT)
The Indian Performing Right Society Limited (IPRSL),
Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL)
Copyright Board
• The Copyright Board is a regulatory body constituted by the government, to
perform judicial functions as per the Copyright Act of India.
• The Board comprises of a Chairman and members (2-14) to arbitrate on
Copyright cases.
• The Chairman of the Board is of the level of a judge of a High Court.
• As per the Act, the Board has the power to:
Hear appeals against the orders of the Registrar of Copyrights.
 Hear applications for rectification of entries in the Register of Copyrights.
 Adjudicate upon disputes on the assignment of Copyrights.  Grant compulsory
licences to publish or republish works (in certain circumstances).
 Grant compulsory licence to produce and publish a translation of a literary or
dramatic work in any language after seven years from the first publication of the
work
Hear and decide disputes as to whether a work has been published or
about the date of publication or the term of Copyright of a work in
another country.
 Fix rates of royalties in respect of sound recordings under the cover-
version provision.
 Fix the resale share right in original copies of a painting, a sculpture
or a drawing and original manuscripts of a literary or dramatic or
musical work
International Copyright
Agreements, Conventions and
Treaties
• Any creative work is not protected and enforced automatically
worldwide because Copyright laws are territorial by nature i.e. Laws
are valid only in the country in which they have been created.
• To secure protection to Indian works in foreign countries, the author
needs to apply separately to each country or through dedicated
international ‘Conventions on Copyright and Neighbouring (related)
Rights‘, provided a country is a member of such Conventions.
• India is a member of the following Conventions:
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works,
1886.
 Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of
Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations, 1961.
 Multilateral Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation of
Copyright Royalties, 1979.
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
Agreement, 1995.
Trademark
• A Trademark (or Trade Mark) is a unique symbol which is capable of
identifying as well as differentiating products or services of one
organization from those of others.
• The word ‘Mark‘ stands for a sign, design, phrase, slogan, symbol,
name, numeral, devise, or a combination of these.
• Essentially, the Trademark is anything that identifies a brand to a
common consumer.
Eligibility Criteria
• For goods/services to be legally classified as Trademark, they need to pass
the following conditions:
 Distinctiveness - The goods and services for which the protection is sought
should possess enough uniqueness to identify it as a Trademark. It must be
capable of identifying the source of goods or services in the target market.
 Descriptiveness - The Trademark should not be describing the description
of the concerned goods or services. Descriptive marks are unlikely to be
protected under Trademark law. However, descriptive words may be
registered if they acquire “secondary meaning”, such as the brand name
‘Apple‘ is used by a USA based multinational company that manufactures
electronic gadgets.
 Similarity to the prior marks - The mark should be unique and should not
be having similarity to the existing marks.
Designation of Trademark Symbols
Classification of Trademarks
• Goods and Services under Trademarks are classified as per the ‘Nice Agreement‘ (1957)
administered by WIPO.
• A total of 149 countries and others are using the same Trademark classification.
• Trademark classification comprises of 45 classes, out of which 34 are for goods and 11 are for
services.
• Two examples of the classes are:
 Class 1 is for Chemicals for use in industry, science and photography, agriculture, horticulture and
forestry;
Unprocessed artificial resins, unprocessed plastics;
Fire extinguishing and fire prevention compositions;
Tempering and soldering preparations;
Substances for tanning animal skins and hides;
Adhesives for use in industry;
Putties and other paste fillers;
Compost, manures, fertilizers;
Biological preparations for use in industry and science.
Class 45 is for legal services;
Security services for the physical protection of tangible property and
individuals;
Personal and social services rendered by others to meet the
individuals‘ needs.
Advantages to the proprietor of the Trademark,
such as:
• Legal Protection – prevents the exploitation of the Registering Trademark by
other companies/organizations/individuals, without proper authorization by the
legal owner/s of the Trademark. In case of legal suits, a registered Trademark can
serve as a potent evidence of the lawful proprietorship of the Trademark.
• Exclusive Right - grants the Trademark owner full rights to use it in any lawful
manner to promote his business.
• Brand Recognition - products/ services are identified by their logo, which helps
create brand value over time. A strong brand is a huge pull for new customers
and an anchor for existing customers. Registering a Trademark early and using it
will create goodwill and generate more business for the brand owner.
• Asset Creation - registered Trademark is an intangible property of the
organization. It can be used for enhancing the business of the company as well
as drawing new clients and retaining old one by the account of brand
identification.
Validity of Trademark
• In India, a registered Trademark is valid for 10 years.
• The period can be extended every 10 years, perpetually.
• As per the Indian Trademarks Act, the renewal request is to be filed in
the form ‘TM-R‘ within one year before the expiry of the last
registration of the mark.
Types of Trademark Registered
in India
• Trademark can be a word that must be able to speak, spell and
remember.
• It is highly recommended that one should choose the Trademark like
invented word, created words, and unique geographical name.
• One should refrain from Trademarks like common geographical name,
common personal name and the praising words which describe the
quality of goods, such as best, perfect, super, etc.
• To ensure all these characteristics in a Trademark, it is suggested to
conduct a market survey to ensure if a similar mark is used in the
market.
Following are some examples of the
registerable Trademarks:
• Any name including personal or surname of the applicant or
predecessor in business or the signature of the person e.g. the
Trademark ‘BAJAJ‘ is named after industrialist Mr. Jamnalal Bajaj.
• A word having no relevance to the product/services e.g. Trademark
‘INDIA GATE‘ is being used for food grains and allied products.
• Letters or numerals or any combination thereof e.g. ‘YAHOO‘ is the
abbreviation of the phrase ‘Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle‘.
It has now become a worldwide famous Trademark.
Some of the famous examples
of Trademarks.
Trademark Registry
• In India, the operations of Trademarks are carried out from five cities
i.e. Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmadabad, Kolkata, and Chennai.
• Each city has been assigned a bunch of states .
• The businesses located in a particular state can only use the services
of the assigned Trademark Registration Office.
• In the case of foreign applicants, jurisdiction is based on the location
of the office of the applicant‘s agent or attorney.
Process for Trademarks
Registration
• To seek Trademark registration, the proprietor of the Trademark has
to fill an application.
• The proprietor may choose to hire an agent to fill and submit the
application on his behalf.
• Before applying, the applicant needs to conduct a prior art search to
ensure the registration criteria.
Prior Art Search
• Prior to applying for Trademark registration, it is always prudent to
check whether the intended Trademark is already registered or not.
• Also, it is ascertained whether the intended Trademark is not similar
to the ones already registered.
• The requisite search can be carried out using various web portals,
such as:
Public search for Trademarks by CGPDTM- Controller General of
Patents, Designs & Trade Marks
WIPO‘s Global Brand Database
Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS).
MARKARIA Trademark Search Engine
VAKIL Search
• Once the ‘prior art search‘ is over and the applicant is convinced about
the distinctiveness of the Trademark, he can proceed to fill the
application form for registration (TM-A).
• The application is filed at the Trademarks Office subject to the
jurisdiction of the applicant.
• The steps involved in the registration process are as follows:
 After the prior art search has been conducted, the applicant can apply
for the registration on his own or with the help of a certified agent.
 The application is assigned an application number within a few days.
The same can be tracked online at https://ipindiaonline.
gov.in/tmrpublicsearch/frmmain.aspx.
The application is scrutinized by a professional examiner. If everything is in
order, the particulars of the application are published in the official
Trademark journal. Otherwise, he will send the objections to the applicant
for rectification. Based on the satisfactory response, the examiner would
recommend the revised application to be published in the journal. If the
application is rejected, the applicant may approach the Intellectual Property
Division to challenge the rejection of an application by the examiner.
Once the Trademark is published in the official journal, the public has an
opportunity to file an objection, if any, within 90 days. After hearing both
the parties, the officer decides whether to proceed further for the grant of
Trademark or disallow the grant of Trademark. In case of unfavourable
outcome, the applicant has the right to contest the decision in front of the
IPAB.
Once the application has successfully completed all formalities, a
Trademark registration certificate is issued in the name of the applicant.
FLOW CHART FOR TRADE MARK REGISTRATION
Famous Case Law:
Coca-Cola Company vs. Bisleri International
Pvt. Ltd.