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What Are Collective Marks in Trade Mark Law
What Are Collective Marks in Trade Mark Law
Introduction
Collective marks are often confused with Certification marks. The fine line
difference between the two is that the Collective marks are used by the
members of the collective only, whereas certification marks can be used by
anybody who complies with the standards defined by the owner of that
particular Certification mark. For example, any gold jewellery which conforms
to all the standards laid by Bureau of Indian Standards can have the Hallmark
on it to show its level of purity, but only people who are members of Institute of
Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) or Institute of Chartered Accountants of
India (ICAI) can use the mark of a CS or CA respectively.
That is why it is always advisable to seek the help of an experienced
Trademark attorney for registration of your mark.
5. Product Symbol: A registered trademark can use the symbol on its logo to
communicate that it is part of a registered trademark, and no one can use
any of its symbols. It is inclusive of its different uses, just as rights. If
someone replicates the design, logo or symbol then that person can be
sued by the business.
6. Protection Against Infringement: Through a product brand name
registration, the trademark becomes an exclusive right for the business
owner, in terms of usage. Hence, competitors or individuals cannot use
the trademark or logo without the endorsement of the business owner.
Thus registering a product with the help of trademark attorneys helps in
protecting against infringement of the logo.
The process for the registration of trademark and a collective mark is similar
and is provided in section 62 & 63 of The Trade Marks Act, 1999, which lays
down two essential components for registration of collective mark which are as
follows:
As per section 64 of The Trademarks Act, 1999, if the Registrar is satisfied that
the conditions for registration are fulfilled, he shall accept the application
together with the conditions, either unconditionally or subject to such conditions
including changes of the said regulations, if any, as he may deem fit or refuse to
accept it and if accepted shall notify the regulations. Section 65 of this provides
that the regulations shall be open to public examination in the same way as that
of the register as provided in Section 148.
Conclusion