Friday, November 22, 2024
Tweet
Pin
It
|
Trademark is a sign, design or expression in the form of a name, word, logo, phrase etc. that is used to identify products and services of one party from others. The main purpose of trademark is to give an indication about the quality of the products and its origin, to the purchaser. For maintaining the unique identity of a product or service, it is essential to protect its trademark from being copied. Through a registered trade mark, one can protect their brand by restricting other people from using its name or logo. Once acquired, a trade mark can last indefinitely as long as you renew it every 10 years. Because a registered trade mark is a form of IP, you can license or assign it to others.
For providing advice in the field of trademark, there are trained and qualified persons named Trademark attorney/ Trademark agents.
Trademark Attorney
Trademark attorneys are legal practitioners who specializes in trademark matters. These professionals will have extensive knowledge about the law of trademark dealing with the mechanism of registration, protection of trademark and prevention of fraudulent trademark.
Trademark attorneys provide awareness to the trademark owners about the importance of trademark registration and gives information about its validity. They deals with all legal aspects of filing an application for the registration of the trademark and also appear for the court cases relating to trademark. The law also states the rights acquired by registration of trademark, modes of transfer and assignment of the rights, nature of infringements, penalties for such infringement and remedies available to the owner in case of such infringement.
The duties and tasks performed by Trademark Attorney involves:
Education and Personal Requirements
An advocate with membership in state bar council can practice as a Trademark Attorney before the Trade Mark Registry of India. The minimum educational requirement to become an advocate is LL.B. from any recognized Law School. Those who have passed 10+2 can go for 5 year L.L.B course and those with graduation or post graduation in any stream can pursue 3 year L.L.B. Selection to the L.L.B courses are made on the basis of CLAT (Common Law Admission Test), conducted annually. CLAT consists of questions from the topics such as Legal Aptitude, Logical Reasoning, English including Comprehension, General Knowledge/Current Affairs, and Elementary Mathematics. One can enroll as an advocate in any of the State Bar Council, after obtaining their LLB degree.
The attorney must be registered to practice trademark laws before the IPAB (Intellectual Property Appellate Board) of the Trademark office and must also be registered to practice law in at least one of the states in India. He must also have passed the IPAB Trademark Law Bar Exam. Many attorneys may also have technical engineering degrees and they can practice law outside the trademark office.
Trademark Agents
Trademark Agents are non-lawyer professionals qualified to perform trademark services. One can become a Trademark agent by passing the qualifying examination (Trademark Agents Examination under the Trade Marks Act, 1999) and the subsequent interview conducted by the Trademarks Registry of India. The qualifying marks for the Trademark Agents written Examination and for interview shall be forty per cent and sixty per cent out of 100 respectively and a candidate shall be declared to have passed the examination only if he obtains an aggregate of fifty per cent of the total marks.
They are registered to practice trademark law before the IPAB (Intellectual Property Appellate Board) of the trademark office. Before entering private trademark practice, they have to serve four years or more as a IPAB trademark examiner. Those who have passed the examination conducted by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and having the license to practice as Company Secretary are permitted to represent their clients before the Trademarks Registry. They are not supposed to appear for the Trademark Agent examination.
A Trademark Agent may draft and file a trademark application and conduct business with the Indian IPAB or Trademark Office. Once the trademark application has been placed, the agent may track the life of the application. Trademark attorney can represent the application in court also.
Trademark agents can do similar work as that of Trademark Attorney, except representing their clients in the court.
A person without a law degree shall be qualified to register as a trade marks agent if he/she:
The registrar will publish the names of qualified person in the register of trademark agents along with the address of the place of residence, address of the principal place of business, the nationality, qualifications and date of registration. The registrar may then publish in the Journal a code of conduct for registered trademarks agent authorizing them to act as such.
Trademark attorney and Trademark agent are required to know everything regarding trademark law, which offers instruction and guidance regarding the creation, registration, utilization, and protection of every trademark within the specified country. With the increase in trademark filing in India, market requires more trademark professionals.
Personal Attributes Needed
Good interpersonal skills, Client management, team management and case management and case analysis capabilities are the essential requirements needed for trademark attorneys and agents. As they have to communicate directly with clients, they should possess excellent written and verbal communication skills, solutions and implementation to various problem and requests, etc.
With the increase in trademark filing in India, ample job opportunities are
available for Trade Mark Agents/Attorneys in Intellectual Property Law Firms as
well as in Corporate Organizations. There a
One can also choose channels like in-house advisors for different organizations or start their own attorney firms and consultancy services.
Remuneration of a Trademark attorney/ Trademark agents depends entirely upon his/her services. They can charge fees for drafting and filing of application for registration of trademarks and for any cases related to trademarks. Trade attorneys can charge high fees since they can negotiate contracts and represent their clients in court. In India, the salary of Trademark attorney varies from Rs. 3lakhs to Rs.15 lakhs per annum. Trademark agents can also earn a good figure.
Indian Institute of Patent and Trademark Attorney (IIPTA), Delhi
C/o Mabbit Communications Private Limited G - 85, Preet Vihar,
Main Vikas Marg, Delhi 110092
websites : http://www.iipta.com,
http://www.iipta.com/ipr/trademark-agent-examination-preparation-program
Indian Institute of Patent and Trademark Attorney (IIPTA), Hyderabad
C/o Mabbit Communications Private Limited Suit No. 202, 3rd Floor MJ Towers,
8-2-698,
Road # 12, NBT Nagar, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 500034
http://www.iipta.com/ipr
Useful contacts
The Trade Marks Registry was established in India in 1940 and presently it administers the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and the rules there under. The head office is in Mumbai and regional offices are in Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Delhi & Chennai. Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks supervises the working of the Trade Marks Act 1999.
Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks,
Bhoudhik Sampada Bhavan
Antop Hill, S.M. Road, Mumbai-400037,
Phones : 022-24132735, Fax : 022-24123322
Web site : www.ipindia.nic.in
The Trade Marks Registry,
Joint Registrar of Trade Marks,
Central Building,
101 M K Road,
Mumbai 400 020
Phone: 022-201 7368, 022-286 4125, 022-208 995, 022-201 3700
Fax : 91-22-205 3372
Tags
Legal career
,
career in law
,
judicial career
Find it Useful ? Help Others by Sharing Online
Comments and Discussions |
Related
Career Options
|
|||||||
| |||||||
|
|
