Trademark

Is It Necessary To Check The Trademark Registry Before Buying A Domain?

calendar25 May, 2023
timeReading Time: 5 Minutes
Is It Necessary To Check The Trademark Registry Before Buying A Domain?

It has become very important for any company, big or small, startup or big player, to protect its intellectual property[1]. The first step is to protect the brand, which is done by getting a trademark registration. Moreover, a trademark helps differentiate the products and services of your brand from prevailing competition in the market. The most important reason for registering a trademark is that it protects your brand and restricts others from using your trademark. In case of trademark infringement, legal remedies are available for the trademark owner. Getting a trademark is important as you have put in a lot of effort and time in starting a company, and you cannot let your efforts go in vain if someone infringes or copies your identity. To prevent any kind of infringement, you must get a trademark registration as soon as you start a company. There are a lot of factors that an individual needs to consider while submitting a trademark registration application. One such requirement is to check the trademark registry before buying a domain for your website. Trademark Registry is a government-owned body that works to register and administer trademarks in a country.

Check the Trademark Registry before buying a domain

Trademark Registry is a platform providing access to applicants to check the trademark availability of their selected mark before filing a registration application. Economic development is highly dependent on intellectual property. Owning the goods and methods used by a nation’s enterprises guarantees increased domestic revenue as well as increased global visibility and sales. This emphasises the significance of trademark ownership over product marketing and identification.

In order to register a unique trademark, it is always advised to check the trademark registry to ensure that no such similar mark already exists. Moreover, it is very important to understand everything about trademarks and their registration so that you efficiently protect your intellectual property and you will understand what will come under infringement and what does not amount to infringement, along with the remedies available to the applicant in case of infringement of the trademark. In order to understand all these things, let’s go into detail and talk about certain factors that you +must keep in mind while getting a trademark registration.

Things to Remember Before Registering a Trademark

Below mentioned are the points that a person must keep in mind while filing a trademark registration application:

  • Your trademark must always be protected

A trademark can be anything a word, phrase, tagline, logo, etc. Make sure to protect all such distinctive and unique marks under the trademark. Trademarks, once registered, will be valid for a period of ten years, and after that, you are required to renew your trademark after every ten years to use it forever. The first dominos store was opened in India in 1996 in New Delhi, and till today Domino’s has been using the same logo. In order to protect its identity, which is its logo, Domino’s has taken a trademark for the same. Now, the question is how they have been using the same trademark for so many years. Once registered is valid only for ten years. So, as discussed above, they are also required to renew the trademark after every ten years, and in this way, the same trademark can be used by the companies for many years as they want.

  • Register your brand identity as a trademark

Your brand identities, such as logo, name, and tagline, are the things that help your customer recognise and trust your brand. Therefore, it is the most important thing that you must register as a priority because people know you by your identity. If your identity is not protected, others may use it and build goodwill on your name by misleading people. You might have seen in your cities that one famous food shop had various duplicates operating the stores by the same name. In such cases, it becomes very for common people like us to actually determine which is the real one and which one is fake. Rather than investing time here, people prefer looking for your competitors, and you eventually lose customers. To avoid this, you must always register a trademark that protects your company’s identity.

  • Create a link

The trademark should be able to convey how a person or group of people are involved in the production of the goods or delivery of the services; for example, Parle G has become known for its highly regarded biscuits across the world.

In a 1972 court case, the judge ruled that using the same colour scheme on the wrapper of another cookie would be considered misleading. The court understood that it would be deceptive for a person if a company used the exact similar wrapper on their product as used by a renowned company as it would mislead people. It may also harm the reputation of any renowned company known for its products. The court kept both the wrappers side by side and reached a conclusion.

To secure rights resulting from extended usage, it is, therefore, advisable to adopt unique marks fairly early at the time when you are entering the market. Additionally, it’s crucial to conduct a trademark search and avoid any possible resemblances to a mark already registered.

Check Trademark Registry

What if you start using a trademark and eventually earn decent profits, but later on, you discover that your trademark is taken by someone else and they have filed a trademark registration application for the same trademark you were using? In such a case, you cannot term this as a trademark violation because your mark was not registered. Now, you have no other option but to talk to the person who took your trademark if he agrees to return your mark, or you will have to change your mark. This is the only reason you are always advised to register a trademark before using any mark and selling products and services.

Before registering a trademark, it is always prudent to check the trademark registry and ensure that your selected mark is already registered. This reduces the chance of your trademark application getting rejected or objected. You can smoothly proceed with trademark registration if you have submitted a complete trademark application with all the required documents.

What if the trademark is already in use in the Trademark Registry?

Remember that there are 45 trademark classes, among which 1 to 35 deals with goods and 36 to 45 are for services. You must determine the correct trademark class for your product or services and then file the trademark. In case you file a trademark wrong class, your application may be rejected. Similarly, while searching the trademark registry, if you find that your selected trademark is already in use, you will have to check that the mark is registered under which trademark class. If your goods and services class differs from the trademark class for which your selected mark is already being used, you still have an option of taking the same trademark. It must be noted that the trademark class of two similar trademarks shall not be the same. This means that no two similar trademarks must be involved in a similar business.

For example, you selected a trade name as ABC, and you found that ABC is already registered for an education-based company. If you are not into the business of education, you are most likely to use the trademark.

Can Domains Be Trademarked?

No, domain names are often not trademarked since you already own them. Instead, you should consider registering a trademark so that your customers can recognize your brand. Be it the brand name, slogan, or logo. Search the whole trademark registry to learn more about how brands often safeguard their intellectual property.

Additionally, you must be aware that you are under no need to register your domain name as a trademark. However, choosing trademark rights over your items is necessary if you don’t use unlawful tactics to get an edge in the future. This method has to be carefully thought out in advance.

Conclusion

Trademark registration is important, and in the same way, checking a trademark registry is equally important to ascertain whether your selected mark is available for use or not. Even if it is already taken, you must the trademark class under which the trademark is registered. If your business is totally different and you will file a trademark in a class that is different from the already registered one, you may proceed with filing an application. For the whole of checking the trademark registry, determining the correct trademark class for your business, and filing a trademark application, you may require the help of an expert attorney who has experience in dealing with trademark-related matters. Contact Corpbiz and get complete assistance.

Read Our Article: An Overview On Document Required For Trademark Registration

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