A Power of Attorney, POA in short, is a legal document that authorizes an entity to represent or act for another person, usually, in the managing of the person’s property, business or private affairs. The former is called the Attorney or Agent whereas the latter is commonly known as the Principal.
In Trademarks, a Power of Attorney is required to appoint an Attorney on your file so he/she can represent you before the respective Trademarks Office.
Having said that, in many countries including the US, UK, Europe, Canada and Australia you don’t need to sign a POA for a standard trademark application (power of attorney is already implied when you entrusted your attorney/agent trademark registration). However, there are countries, such as, China, Mexico, Russia and India where a POA signed by the owner or any other person legally bound to the owner is required in order to file a trademark application.
In the US, when an applicant wishes to replace its existing attorney and appoint a new attorney, it needs to sign a Power of Attorney authorizing the new attorney to prosecute the trademark application.
There are 3 ways how you can proceed:
- Book an initial phone call with us. Here is the link for the trademark package
- Ask for a free preliminary trademark search to get an idea of whether your trademark can be registered. This is a basic search but if your mark is unregistrable, we’ll be able to tell you. Order your search here.
- Buy a trademark package right away to start the trademark registration process without further delay. You can see our pricing on this page and can buy directly from our website.
What happens after I buy a trademark package?
- We’ll confirm your order.
- We’ll check if your trademark is registrable. A comprehensive trademark search will be done at this stage. We will provide detailed recommendations on how to increase the chances of achieving registration if your trademark turns out to be problematic.
- If your trademark is registrable, we’ll move forward with the trademark registration process.
- If your trademark has low chances of achieving registration, you will have 3 options:
- Ask for a full refund;
- Come up with a different name. We will provide detailed instructions for this. Further trademark searches are included in the package and there is no extra cost. We’ll keep searching until we find a registrable trademark;
- Proceed with the filing anyway.
The choice is yours. Make the first step now.
You can use ® symbol if your Indian trademark has registered. Using the symbol ® unless your trademark is registered in India is unlawful.
Using ™ symbol with your trademark means that you claim to be the owner of the trademark and that you use the trademark as a “source indicator”. You can use the ™ symbol ™ in India on registered or unregistered trademarks.
No use is required for filing or registration. Indian trademark law allows one to file a trademark application in India on an ‘intent-to-use’ basis.
The owner of the registered trademark in India has to start using within 5 years and 3 months of the date of registration. If use in India has not started, the registered trademark may be challenged in invalidation proceedings.
A registered Indian trademark is valid for 10 years and can be renewed every 10 years indefinitely.
Unlike patents or copyrights, trademarks do not expire and just increase in value over time.
Names or surnames cannot be used as a trademark in India if they do not possess a distinctive character.
Common names and surnames may not be registered as it may lead to confusion. However, is a surname is uncommon or very rare, it may be considered distinctive and registrable.
The biggest problem with registered a surname is that one cannot claim exclusive rights over it and cannot stop people who have the same surname from using it.
1. Absolute Grounds for Trademark Refusal in India:
- Trademarks which are devoid of any distinctive character; that is to say, not capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of another person;
- Trademarks which consist exclusively of marks or indications which may serve in a trade to designate the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, geographical origin or the time of production of goods or of rendering of services, or other characteristics of goods or services;
- Trademarks which consist exclusively of marks or indications which have become customary in the current language or in the bona fide and established practices of the trade.
2. Relative Grounds for Trademark Refusal in India:
If identical trademarks are found or if similar trademarks are found (similar to Canada, US or Australia).
Some trademarks cannot be registered in India. Some common reasons when a trademark in India cannot be registered are:
- If they lack distinctiveness and likely to cause deception or confusion;
- If they are likely to hurt religious sentiments of any community;
- If they contain any scandalous or obscene matter cannot be registered either;
- Trademarks that are prohibited under the Emblems and Names Act, 1950;
- Trademarks of shapes which are purely functional or necessary to obtain a technical result or which give substantial value to the goods.
When a trademark application is filed, the India Trademark Office will review the application. Then an official receipt will be issued.
TMO will review the submission and it usually takes about 1 month for the formality check review.
Your trademark will then go through a substantial examination, which will last about 4 months.
If everything goes smoothly, we will receive a preliminary publication notice within 6 months from the application date.
After a 4-month opposition period, the trademark will be approved for registration.
The whole process takes about 12 months in total.
We offer a free identical trademark search for India (order on our website). Trademark search is really important before you decide whether to file or not as it may uncover a trademark that may be an obstacle to your trademark registration.
While identical trademark search will find an obvious obstacle, a “similar mark” search is highly recommended. While such type of search is free in the US, Canada, EU, UK and Australia, if you would like a comprehensive similar mark search in India, the cost will be $150.
