Basics of TMs
A trademark is a name or sign which is developed for using by any business or individual to identify them or their product. There are various trademarks we can widely see. The first trademark which is frequently seen is denoted by ®. It stands for a trademark which is registered. Another trademark is denoted by ™. It is meant by a trademark which is not registered yet. Another most important trademark which is seen in many areas is noted by â. It means an unregistered service trademark.
A person who owns a trademark can take legal action against anyone who breaches on it or uses that without any permission of the company. A person does not need to register for a trademark to be able to sue for infringement, but it should be protected in a specific area where the name can be found reasonably. There is a databank of the registered trademarks. It helps every person to search for a name or trademark before registering a company. If a trademark is not properly used then it will be considered as void and null. The maximum period of non-using the trademark is five years.
Today we can find that the domain names have conflicted with trademark holders about the use of similar concept, i.e. the mark or name. There was various court cases put against it. It was proved by the court that there is no infringement between the domain name and a product, because a domain name is not a product or any product is not defined by it. The action can be taken only if any impression of product is produced. People trust on the trademarks because it assures that an item is legitimate.
A law has been made in 1946, which is known as the trademark law. In this law, it is stated that it is the total responsibility of the owner to watch the trademark contravention. The trademark infringement has been constituted by the counterfeit labels, confusion, and dilution.
Today is the age of computer. The work of making trademark has become very easy. There are many websites where we can search and monitor various trademarks, and we can learn about the terms and conditions of trademarks by these websites.
Any type of word, symbol, design, or combination of those which can distinguish an item, a product, or a company from others, can be said as trademark. Only two rules are there for making a trademark. The first one is it should be used in commerce and the second one is it must be distinctive. A trademark ceases to be a trademark when it becomes a generic term for a product group and than just a particular product. Some of these items are cellophane, dry ice, escalator, etc. The trademark can be reviewed as many times as the owner wants.
Trademark Works
Level 19, Two IFC
8 Finance Street
Central, Hong Kong
(852) 2251 8140
