Trademark Infringement

Do you want to file for Trademark Infringement?
Or you received the Trademark Infringement Notice?
IF YES, GO ON READING BELOW

Trademark Infringement is the unauthorized use of a trademark in connection with goods and/or services in a manner that is likely to cause confusion, deception, or mistake about the source of the goods and/or services under the Trademark Act, 1999. The term deceptively similar here means that when an average consumer looks at the mark, it is likely to confuse customers of the origin of the goods or services.

Top reasons to go for TM Infringement

Trademark owners can take legal action if they believe their marks are being infringed by some parties and can further harm their brand value.
If infringement of a trademark is proven, a court order can prevent a defendant from using the mark, and the owner gets monetary relief.
As owner of registered TM, you get this right to sue business/people for unauthorised use of your mark at any given any point of time.

The main purpose of a trademark infringement is to help owner of trademark secure the mark of a particular good or service. The brand helps people determine the quality and consumers usually make their purchase decisions on quality aspect. This is why a trademark infringement is of extreme importance for all trademark owners.

Trademark Infringement is very important to ensure that your trademark is not being infringed upon by any party demeaning your brand proposition in the market. It gives you a legal course of action to get the monetary relief and also defendant has to stop using the mark immediately.
Trademark represents the brand value of the owner and distinguishes them from the rest of the players in the market. Not only this, if you are owner of any registered trademark, you must have felt the heat whenever you find any product/service in your chosen industry with same name in brand mark which is your trademark. It is when TM Infringement comes into play.
Infringement of trademark also causes a loss of finances and goodwill to the owner of the infringed mark. Thus, it is always better to be cautious, vigilant and appoint a professional IP Firm who excels in the segment to update you if there are other existing players to prevent potential infringers from riding on the goodwill and reputation that you have established over a period of time.

Documents Required for Trademark Infringement

If you have to send TM Infringement Notice

TM Registration Certificate, Parties Detail infringing, Proof of Infringement and Supporting Documents
If you have received TM Infringement Notice

Copy of TM Infringement Notice along with Annexures, Sample of product/Service and any other documents.

For further details, please connect at tm@ccoffice.in or +91-99 88 42 42 11

Legal Procedures of Trademark Infringement

It is imperative to protect your mark from misuse and infringement by others. Before stepping into the legal procedures, it is always better to find out whether infringement nature is direct or indirect which will further make the roadmap for the TM Infringement. The infringement of a trademark is a cognizable offence which means that the infringer may also face criminal charges along with civil charges. The owner also gets the monetary relief for the amount they suffered loss.

The legal procedure involves many stages right from serving the TM Infringement Notice to finally getting the below remedies:

Temporary Injunction
Permanent Injunction
Damages Compensation
Destruction of Goods
Cost of Legal Proceedings

There is legal repercussion to the infringer as well in criminal proceedings and the court may award the following punishment:

Imprisonment not less than six months that may extend to three years
A fine that is not less than INR 50,000 which may extend to INR 2 lakh

Features & Benefits of Trademark Infringement

Trademark infringement in India is defined under Section 29 of the Trademarks Act, 1999. Simply put, when an unauthorized person uses a trademark that is 'identical' or 'deceptively similar' to a registered trademark, it is categorised as TM Infringement. Below are some of the Features and Benefits to help you understand why this carries utmost importance:

Brand Security: In the emerging market where every business is working harder to scale and level up their game, there is always a class of infringers who believes in copying the colour-combination of mark and deceive the end consumer with the crooked products.
Get Damages: Trademark owner is entitled to damages in the amount of the profits gained from the infringement. It is kind of monetary relief which helps you meet legal expenses occurred during the process of filing and follow-up of the case of infringement as and when it happens so.
Destruction of Goods: The product using the infringing mark is asked to get destroyed by the court in their order. This is very essential as counterfeit goods and products may be eliminated from the market and help you to grow by leaps and bounds.
Kill the Confusion: The Trademark law protects a trademark owner's exclusive right to use a trademark when use of the mark by another would be likely to cause consumer confusion as to the source or origin of goods. Protect your brand with the continuous check of your clones.
Claim Infringement: To prevail on a claim of trademark infringement, a plaintiff must establish that it has a valid mark entitled to protection; and that the defendant used the same or a similar mark in the market by sale or advertisement of goods or services without the TM Owner consent.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Trademark Infringement?

What do you do if you find your goods/services getting infringed?

As a trademark owner, you can serve notice to the infringer to ask them not to infringe. If it continues and they do not bother to stop this malafide intention, you can also take the route to legal course of action and get damages.

What if you do not give Trademark Infringement Notice?

Not giving infringement notice by the Trademark Owner can land their business loose clients and find themselves in troubles. You lose the credibility soon and soon your customers too.

Any confusion or query bothering you?

Not to worry at all! Someone from our experienced IPR Team will resolve all your queries on TM Infringement. Our TM Experts will help you to give you the best advice without any consultancy fees. Write to us at tm@ccoffice.in or/and WhatsApp/Call us +91-99 88 42 42 11.

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