Obtaining a registered trademark is a major achievement because trademark registration is not an easy process. It demonstrates the end of a long and sometimes difficult application process.
But as satisfying as it is, Trademark registration is just one milestone in your ongoing quest to protect your trademark and your brand. After receiving the registered trademark, the brand must defend and maintain its mark and do certain post trademark registration compliances to protect the mark.
Sometimes brands get misinformed that the trademark office protects the trademark, but this information is not true; when the trademark is registered, it becomes the owners’ duty to protect and defend their rights. Hence the laid down are the post trademark registration compliances.
What are the Post Trademark Registration Compliances to be Fulfilled in India?
Brand Should Use ® Instead Of ™
Once your trademark is registered, you are barred from using TM (™) symbols and switched to circulated R [®]. While the previously mentioned mark indicates a claim on the trademark, ® denotes a proprietor’s possession and gives legal protection to any brand.
It is a privilege to use the circled R symbol with your trademark and is reserved exclusively for trademarks that have been registered. Using ® with a mark of your brand that does not have a registration is actually a violation of the law. It can be used as grounds to deny a trademark application due to inappropriate symbol utilization.
Before registration, the only symbol allowed to use is ™. This symbol is appropriately used before or during the application process to indicate ownership of a mark by a brand. The small capital word TM stands for trademark and represents physical goods, such as clothes, sunglasses, or food items.
The below discussed are the areas which proprietor needs to address as you enact proper use of the R symbol:
- Product packaging or labeling
- Marketing and advertising art and copy
- Your website and other online presences
Read our article:List of Important Judgments under Trademark that You Must Know!
Remember Your Trademark Renewal Dates
Another post trademark registration compliance of trademark protection is ensuring timely renewal filings. The first renewal for subsequent registration of your trademark will be five years from the original registration date.
The second renewal is scheduled to take place ten years from the original registration date and every ten years thereafter. The due date of each renewal is followed by a window lasting 6 months in which the filing may be made; once the window closes, however, the trademark will fall into a grace period and risk abandonment.
Maintaining the renewal schedule is the trademark owner’s responsibility and essential for mark protection for trademark registration. On every trademark renewal filing, the owner must prove the use of the mark in the marketplace of all of the goods and services provided in the trademark’s classes and submit a fee for each class. If the trademark owners fail to prove the trademark’s use in the marketplace can result in registration loss.
Engaging a trademark lawyer’s assistance is the most efficient way to guarantee that the owner will miss no trademark renewal date. The trademark has substantial use in the market, and the filings are properly prepared.
Monitor New Trademark Filings
Trademark monitoring services is to keep an eye on different marks that have been published in the trademark journal so that similar marks can be traced out and respective owners can be informed about the same accordingly. But the owner of the IPR will be informed when a trademark journal is published within fifteen days.
The trademark journal also provides an occasion for the owners of different marks to get any clerical or typographical error[1] removed properly before registration. Trademark Monitoring Service helps to protect your trademarks from violation and infringement by searching for recently filed and/or published trademarks that may be confusingly similar to yours. It is mandatory to post trademark registration compliances by the trademark owner to secure its brand mark from duplicity.
Monitor the Marketplace to Prevent Infringement
One of the most important post trademark registration compliances is that a trademark owner must perform is monitoring and while your registration and use of the ® symbol can be major restraint for the potential infringers. It is still essential to make sure that third party is not sabotaging your business image in the marketplace by using your trademark without taking your permission. This contains monitoring for direct infringements and usage of marks that may be confusingly similar to yours.
Trademark law requires owners to monitor the marketplace to eliminate the threat of infringement and therefore integrates trademark protection into mark ownership. If an outside party can manage the not permitted use of a mark for an extended period of time which may ultimately lead to the loss of trademark rights for the registered owner, due to their lack of vigilance.
If someone else will use your trademark in an unauthorized manner without your notice, they can actually use your neglect in defense of Mark as a defense against any legal enforcement action brought against them. By monitoring your mark, you are ensuring that your trademark rights remain as strong as possible.
Expand Your Trademark Coverage When Necessary
The earlier you register a trademark, the better it is to secure your business Goodwill. Here are some examples what you require to do:-
- File for an additional trademarks covering each new class of goods or services (expansion into new industries)
- Update your trademark specimen to show how it now identifies your company (New logos or branding)
- Update your specimen to illustrate the new use of your mark (New packaging or labeling)
Concluding Remark
Considering the above said, a trademark owner has three post trademark registration compliances, i.e., correct symbol usage, monitoring the marketplace to prevent your mark from infringement matters, and making renewal filings of your trademark. It may seem not easy to go through this process.
To take the help of an experienced trademark, a legal expert can help you see the greatest return on your investment as your company continues to grow. Work cannot stop once your trademark is registered but can bring a trail advantage to your brand, business, or product which is worth protecting from diligence. You may please associate with the Corpbiz expert to know more about the Post Trademark Registration Compliances applicable to your company.
Read our article:The Procedure behind Trademark Renewal in India
