IF YOU ARE HEARING

THE WORD
“TRADEMARK” FOR
THE FIRST TIME
Any “name’,’ logo’, ‘tagline’ or identity of your product is the trademark of your product. There are hundreds
of sites that tell you what it is but this is basically for you to understand the concept of the trademark.
Let me start with an example:
Would you buy an ‘iPhone’ without the Apple symbol behind it?
No!!
Or would you buy one with a full Apple rather than a half ate one?
NEVER!!!

The reason why the name and logo of a brand is so important is because they are the ones which make the
brand a brand.

People spend years to decide what their dream product is, even more, to coin a catchy name to stand apart in
the market and then even more effort, time and money to design a unique font and logo. But it only takes a
minute to steal it.

The beauty about this is that the looter doesn’t just copy your “Name”, “Logo”, or “Font”.
They steal your identity. They steal your brand. They steal whatever you stand for. In the end, they own you
and your business.

And the only way to have brighter chance to fight back and prevent them from copying your brand is if you
would have done your “trademark registration” for your brand, logo, tagline and its identity.
You can register “A word”, “logo”, “Slogan”, “sound”, “colour” and even “Shape and Design” of your product
and the law (Trademark Act, 1999) shall safeguard you from any type of infringement or forger.
Here are a few interesting cases on trademark infringement that would give you an idea.

WORD TYPE FRAUDERY

ACTIV vs ACTIVE

A case was filed by CASTROL INDIA LIMITED against LUMAX Iqbal Singh Chawla & Ors for misusing
their trademark name of “ACTIV”. The case was taken to the BOMBAY HC and 4T had to bring down its
product for this issue. The sole reason was that Castrol had “ACTIV” registered even before LUMAX, (on the
25th January 1999). And since both the companies sold products similar to each other the case was not
something that could be waved away easily. LUMAX was forced to remove its name and was Issued a sizable
fine for its actions.

3RD PARTY FRAUDERY

YANBU STEEL COMPANY had purchased it’s carbon seamless pipes for its oil plants from Kishor Jain and
Jeetendra Burad believing that the pipes where actually manufactured by NIPPON STEEL.
Due to the bad quality of the product, they sued against NIPPON STEEL. But they where in for a shock to
know that the manufactured pipes where not made by NIPPON STEEL but by a Third party (local market,
Navi Mumbai) who have forged the name and symbol of NIPPON without its consent and have even Forged
documents for the deal using NIPPON’s logo. This case came to the BOMBAY HC on 26th March 2019 and
after few hearings, the accused was handed a penalty of Rs.5,00,00,000/- payable to TATA MEMORIAL
HOSPITAL.
COLOUR AND DESIGN SIMILAR FRAUDRY

PAYPAL HOLDINGS INC, an American online payment system that helps you transfer money with just a
click was established on the year 1998 by “CONFINITY, X.COM” and got its design and logo registered on
the same year as well.

PAYTM a company the served a very similar purpose of money transfer was found only 12years after
PAYPAL on 2010 but on the account DEMONETIZATION and the introduction on Digital India the usage of
online transaction and e-wallets started drastically increasing in India, a market which PAYPAL really didn’t
concentrate much on. And seeing the humongous growth on PAYTM’s stats( from 2.5 mills to 7.5 mills) in
less than 14 days, PAYPAL decided it’s time to strike by filing a complaint on PAYTM for Trademark
infringement at the Supreme court on 18th November 2016.

There focus was basically on the colour similarity of the Logo and the usage of the word ‘PAY’. And with
both the companies serving the same purpose of money transfer PAYPAL really wanted to put their stand. The
case is still going on and is not expected to come to a close at least for a few years given the magnitude of both
the companies.
These are just a few examples of how trademark infringement happens and in all cases, the one who have filled
the trademark before the other and registered their trademark have seen light. They stand a better chance no
matter how great the company that infringed is.
It’s like this, a more handsome guy can come in a luxurious car with his hands full of flowers to the love of
your life and she ends up in saying a big “NO” because you asked her out first. Same concept.
Wait, are you still reading this without registering the trademark of your company, let me save you some time.

Click on the link below and get your trademark filed within an hour.

Register Your Trademark

DON’T LET ANYONE STEAL WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY YOURS!!!!