[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he new National Intellectual Property Rights policy announced by the Government of India, is a welcome step. The goal of having trademarks approved within a month is a laudable objective, since there are many time bound processes to deal with:
The entity (individual/ company) has to file the trademark application along with a reason for why it is unique and needs to be approved.
The Patent and Trademarks Office (PTO) of the country examines the application, does its own search to ensure it is unique. It must be remembered that the PTO has a responsibility on behalf of its citizens to ensure that the trademark application is unique, has a purpose and benefits the society at large. An approved Trademark gives its holder an advantage in messaging the product. Think how we mention “I googled…” instead of “I searched” or “Can you make a Xerox” instead of “Can you make a copy”.
In the United States (US), it can take up to six months before its PTO responds.
Assuming that there are no disputes with the trademark application, in a few months time, the US-PTO will publish the new Trademark in The Official Gazette. The Official Gazette is a weekly publication from the Trademark Office that serves to give notice to the public that a trademark application is about to be registered. Such public notice allows third parties or other companies to come forward and dispute any trademarks that they feel would infringe upon their rights. This publication process usually takes about 3 months to complete.
If you add up all the timelines above, you are looking at about 6-12 months before you get your trademark issued. That the Indian Government is taking a crack at reducing this timeline shows its sincere attempt at messaging that it is serious and that the path to growth in the World economy is by encouraging its startups, who will be one of the biggest beneficiaries from such a move.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]I[/dropcap] am an inventor, with Patents (and some Trademarks, called Design Patents in the US) in many countries and I know what it takes to get these approved. Since coming to power, the Modi government has identified several key issues and addressed them to convince the world that India is a desired destination for new ventures. I will be writing on specific measures taken and their upside in future posts.
His first book NDTV Frauds has been published and is an Amazon Bestseller.It ranked second among all eBooks that were self-published in 2017.
His second book, The Gist of GSTN which too is available on Amazon as an e-Book and as a paperback.
His third book, The Rise and Fall of AAP is also available in print version or as an e-Book on Amazon.
His fourth book, C-Company just released to rave reviews and can be bought as a print version or as an e-Book on Amazon.
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