Global Trademark means to have international access to all the rights and obligations that a trademark holder has locally. It has several advantages. A trademark holder who wishes to expand his market globally and also protect its company’s identity from any kind of deceit, fraud, or malpractice shall have protection under global Trademark as the greater the market, the greater will be the risks.
What are the Advantages of Global Trademark?
Currently, there are over 100 countries that provide protection for global trademarks because it comes with multiple benefits to the countries and companies both. The countries benefit by providing global Trademark in a way that they get to globalize and develop. Developing countries like India need to globalize their market and decrease internal and external barriers for the inflow and outflow of goods and services to improve the standard of living and to maintain competition even among the local brands. India have had a history of economic crisis during the 1990’s, but since it has opened its gate to the global companies it has helped to lift a lot of economic barriers and decreasing the permits and licensing requirements. India has grown its economy tremendously since globalization.
Rights Under Global Trademark
Following are some important rights under Global Trademark:
- Global Trademark not just benefits the country but definitely the companies as well, as they get the rights to sell their products and services in the international market and expand their customers base, their reputation and get global recognition.
- The companies get all those rights which a local trademark user gets in the country where his Trademark is registered. In order to sell his goods and services, he will have to make and distribute the product. So, just like that, he can even manufacture the products and services locally and sell them globally, which would benefit the company at a mass scale, or he can exercise his rights of production, manufacturing, selling and distribution rights even globally. The companies not just get the selling and manufacturing rights but also all the rights related to the protection of the Trademark. No person globally will be able to copy, deceit, or defraud the Trademark. If any person tries to sell the product under the brand name, logo, shape, design, or any other thing which resembles or is deceptively similar in order to create confusion in the minds of the people will be held for infringement of the rights globally.
- So the trademark user gets all the legal protection against the infringement of his Trademark at a global level and would provide the company with a perpetual existence.
- The global trademark holder would take years to reach a level where he can establish his own production and distribution centres globally so he can also make use of imports. The holder also has access to the right to provide import licenses to other parties which would enable them to popularize their products and the license would also not get misused as the owner holds exclusive right to global Trademark.
An Overview of Madrid System
The Madrid system was not easy to commence with, its debates went on from 1891 and was finally formulated in the year 1996. It allows a trademark user to practice all those rights which he practices locally at an international level that too by undergoing just one application at the international trademark office under the Madrid system. It accumulates and provides all rights to a trademark user at the global level.
Essential for Acquiring International global Trademark:
- There are three criteria’s set which ensures the eligibility for acquiring global Trademark:
- The global trademark applicant must be an Indian by birth or has Indian domicile.
- The trademark applicant must hold a prior trademark registration locally before he applies at the WIPO. It is essential that he must hold Trademark locally before going global.
- Only those goods and services will be given global trademark recognition which hold local trademark registration. If any new range of products and services is introduced, then it shall be registered with the origin country’s registrar as well.
Registration of Global Trademark:
- Global Trademark helps the companies to exercise their trademark protection right in various jurisdictions. This does not require that the applicant will have to file several separate applications in each country to enable the global protection for Trademark.
- The applicant will only need to file an application at the World Intellectual Property Rights commonly known as WIPO[1]. WIPO works at the international level for the protection of not just Trademark but all other intellectual properties.
- A trademark owner will have to follow the Madrid System principles. If a trademark user wants to register globally then he will have to pass a test at the local trademark registration authority. For e.g. USPTO is the trademark authority for the US, So if a trademark user at the US wants to apply at the WIPO for the trademark registration globally then he will have to undergo a process where the USPTO will decide that whether or not the applicant is eligible for further processes. If they agree to pass the application, then USPTO will contact the Geneva offices of IPO.
Conclusion
Global trademark registration is a step towards protecting your and your company’s name in the international market because it is very vast and one cannot be present every where to stop those who does an infringement, so a little cost spent for trademark registration offers much wider and longer range of protection. One can invoke the legal protection as soon as he finds an infringement of his rights anywhere across the world. Just as in the case of Louis Vuitton vs Louis Vuiton Dan, where a south Korean chicken making restaurant, was found guilty of infringing the rights of the applicant , famous designer who holds global trademark protection, in consequence of which, the restaurant had to change its name and not only that he had to pay 14 million dollars fine to the famous designer Louis Vuiton for having a deceptively similar name which would cause confusion in the minds of the public.
Read Our Article: What Are The Benefits To Register International Trademark?
