Trademark Registration by a Layman

Trademark can be a complex subject to understand, even to get anything trademarked may seem a little too intricate but it is not so. Anyone can apply for trademark it is not obligatory that a person must be a trademark lawyer for applying for a trademark. Even registering your trademark is not compulsory it is your discretion whether you want to register it or not. A person can apply for registration after using the mark.  Any layman can apply for a trademark all they have to make sure is not to repeat some of the common mistakes done by people who are not familiar with the trademark law and the working of the trademark registry.

Following are some common mistakes done by a non-legal person applying for a trademark: –

1. Do not research properly

A layman does not research properly the fact that any other company has the similar trademark or not. A similar looking trademark be it a name or a logo or a mark will be rejected by the trademark office as it is a fundamental principle that a mark must be unique and solely owned by them.

2. Deceptive similarities

Sometimes a mark can be deceptively similar as to when a person looks at the marks, they cannot distinguish them at a first glance. It seems so similar that it can mislead the common public to associate it with any other popular brand existing in the market. This can also be a reason for your mark getting rejected.

3. Misleading marks

A mark can be so deceiving to the extent that it has no connection with the name and the      product in use. For an example if there is  an ice cream company naming there chocolate flavour ice cream as vanilla chips it will mislead the public as they will assume the Vanilla chips ice cream must be a vanilla flavour ice cream and for this particular reason which may seem to insignificant can possibly reject your application.

4. Pick the wrong owner

The owner of the mark can be a company but for that the company must have been incorporated before the trademark application and should legally formed and registered and very much in existence.

5. Ignoring the office action

People tend to forget about the fact that they should keep the track of the status of their application to have the knowledge if there is any objection or any alteration has been made and like this, they can avoid the time lapse.

6. Descriptive and generic term

Trademark has been categorized in five different classes namely Fanciful, Suggestive, Generic, Descriptive and arbitrary. Generic and descriptive terms are advised to be avoided as they are more likely to be rejected by the trademark office.

If your name is descriptive of the purpose of your trade, then may be the application of trademark be rejected or difficult to get through. On the other hand, if anybody uses any other name which fall under other categories, they will be fly easily without getting any hurdle.

7. Unregistrable mark

According to Section 9(2) of the trademark law if the mark contains any offensive word which is against public order and morality, then it will be straight way rejected by the authority. Even any national emblem or any other nationally protected mark cannot be trademarked. Layman may not be well versed with this fact that some words cannot be trademarked. Thus, there is a probability that they will neglect this fact and consequently their application will get rejected.