A term “Trademark Objection” refers to the objections raised by the Examiner of the Trademark Registry while examining the Trademark Application filed for Trademark Registration. It is one of the initial stages of the registration process. The aim behind this process is to ensure the originality and distinctiveness of a Trademark which is to be registered. The Trademark Examiner can object to the Trademark Application by providing a valid explanation about the mark.
There are certain grounds on which the objections can be raised by the Examiner and those are as follows:-
As per Section 11 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, an applied Trademark must not be similar to the existing Trademark and if the Examiner finds the similarity between two then he/she can refuse its registration on these grounds to avoid confusion. The main motive behind this ground is to safeguard the Trademark owner’s right.
As per Section 9 of the Act, an applied mark should be different from the existing Trademarks and must not hurt the public sentiments or hold obscene content. If the examiner finds that the application does not comply with Section 9 of the Act then he/she can refuse its registration.
A Trademark Application can be rejected if the Applicant fails to comply with the legal requirements that are either laid down by the Trademark Office or are mentioned in the Trademark Law.
An objection can be raised by an Examiner if he/she finds that the applied mark does not fall under the adequate class relating to the goods and services provided by it or if the scope of goods and services is over exceeding its limit on one particular class.
Once an objection is filed, the status of an application will change to “objected”. A fair opportunity will be provided to the Applicant by the Examiner to defend the application as per the prescribed process. The Applicant is required to submit his reply to the Examination Report within one month from the date of receiving the application.
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