“A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.” – Seth Godin

Information Bank

What Is a Trademark?

A Trademark is a type of Intellectual Property that consists of a visually recognizable mark, expression, sign or device that gives recognition to any goods or service and distinguishes them from the other.

A mark as per Section 2(m) of the Indian Trademarks law, includes a device, brand, heading, label, ticket, name, signature, word, letter, numeral, shape of goods, packaging or combination of colors or any combination thereof.

A trademark as per Section 2(zb) means “a mark capable of being represented graphically and which is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of others and may include shape of goods, their packaging and combination of colours:”

Such a mark could be anything from a logo to packaging or even combinations, the only qualification required is to be able to make the goods and service in question, distinct from the other ones already existing.

Illustration-

 A trademark is any- 

  • Packaging (CADBURY’S)
  • Shape (Coca Cola bottle, Gorbatschow vodka bottle, Toblerone)
  • Colour Combinations (Windows, Domino’s)
  • Word (Tiffany & co., Pepsi)
  • Alphabets (HP, HCL, BMW) 
  • Device (Amul girl, MDH’s Old man, Parle-G girl)
  • Signature (Louis Philippe)
  • Surname (Tata, Bajaj)

When the mark is used in respect of services then the mark is also commonly referred to as a Service Mark. 

Ex: Vistara airlines, INFOSYS, FedEx etc. are service marks.

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