Before filing for any trademark application, it is essential to know whether the proposed trademark is available or not. The trademark availability means whether a similar trademark is already been registered or applied for the registration by the other person or not, this is pre-check is commonly known as Trademark search.
A proper Trademark search is very crucial and it helps in avoiding any kind of potential conflicts or Trademark objections
while the process of Trademark objections
in India.
You can do a trademark search by providing the word mark and the class under which the search is to be performed.
Trademark application can be made in 45 different classes having descriptions as per the nice classification for the trademark. The various classes of the nice classification represent different set of goods as well as services which can easily identified by the user.
##Trademark Search Procedure
To do a trademark search in India, visit the trademark search database using the link https://ipindiaonline.gov.in/tmrpublicsearch/frmmain.aspx#.
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But before conducting a search for the availability of your proposed Trademark most important thing is to know under which class your goods and services are covered, For instance, in case your brand name is MODA related to cloths, you are required to put the class 25 which covers clothing.
###Steps to do trademark search:
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Firstly, Select the Wordmark at the top of the page.
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Enter the wordmark which you are proposing to use in the first column and always remember to search your mark by writing in every possible different spelling which can be of your mark. As sometimes the spelling specified by you is not registered but with a different spelling same name is already on record, for example: LOVE and LUV, Smile and Smyle etc.
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Generally, by default “Start with” will appear in the search type in the trademark search database which can be changed to “contains” or “match with” for doing a more intensified search upon the trademark registry.
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In, ‘Start with’ it will only perform a basic search of the value provided which may or may not help in finding the existence of the conflicting marks.
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In, ‘Contains with’ it will display all entries in the trademark search database that contains the value provided for search even with a possible similarity.
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Whereas, In ‘Match with’ all entries in the trademark search database that matches with the value provided for search or similar to the value will appear.
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Then you need to enter the applicable class of trademark. This can be identified by doing an extensive search in the class detail (as specified above) although there are 45 classes which represent distinctive goods or services. But, a registration of the trademark will only be granted to the specific class under which it was applied for.
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Finally, click on search all the relevant mark or similar marks will appear accordingly you search type.
###Trademark Search Results
By the help of the following example how the search is analyzed will be clear. For example: The search results for word “Castrol” under Class 5 (Class 5 pertains to pharmaceuticals, medical and veterinary preparations)
The trademark search results display a list of all the trademarks that start with the word “Castrol” under class 5.
Now, for more information we need to select the option of “show details” which will display the complete information relating to the trademark like application number, application date, owner information, trademark validity date, trademark used since date and a description.
A search can bring numerous matches depending upon the wordmark so it is clear that the adequate understanding of the trademark search status is essential for interpreting the repercussion.
If, a trademark search shows “no matches found” then there are no registered or applied trademarks that matches the query.
Note:- It is pertinent to be noted that for a trademark to be registered, must not be similar to a well known mark or an existing mark and change in spelling of the mark the registration will not be granted as the pronunciation, sound and meaning of the mark will be same. For example: If a mark by name of LOVE is registered you cannot apply the same with different spelling like LUV.
We hope that our article is helpful for you to shortlist a good Trademark.
