Page 13 - QUEST-IP (Final)_Neat

TRADEMARKS

Whether it is a business entity or even an individual, brand is an identity, a
pledge that sets one apart from all others and the lens through which one’s
image is magnified. In this highly competitive era, numerous traders and
service providers offer goods and services of the same category. Although
they are of the same category, goods and services differ in standards,
prices and other characteristics from manufacturer to manufacturer,
from trader to trader and from service-provider to service-provider.
Hence, businesses name their goods and services and use various
other branding tools to distinguish themselves from their competitors.
Trademarks, in simple and as a blanket term, can be said to refer to a
brand or a mechanism through which a business does its branding.
A mark, under the Trademarks Act 2009 (‘TMA 2009’), includes a device,
brand, heading, label, ticket, name, signature, word, letter, symbol,
numeral, figurative elements, combination of colours or any combination
thereof. Therefore, a trademark can be said to be a mark that indicates the
origin of goods and services used in the course of trade.

Words and Device marks: These can include names of entities and
persons, words, logos, combination of both, a set of words, slogans etc.
For example, the word ‘Nike’, the famous curve logo coined as swoosh
and their popular slogan ‘Just do it’. All of the aforementioned are
capable of being trademarks as individually and as combination.

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