India: Differing Trends In Trademarks Over The Years

As today's world and generation is more accustomed to changes, there is a need for revamping and bringing about a change in every aspect of life. Intellectual Property Rights have reshaped the protection of people's creations and innovations over the years and brought in various ways and amendments to protect the rights of the proprietors of such innovations. Annual Reports have been published to showcase these differing trends in Patents, Designs and Trademarks by the CGPDTM.

The Annual Reports have in depth, discussed the functions of the Trademark Registry which have been reorganized as and when required and the examination of the applications has remained centralized over the years. From the filing of applications to giving the certificates of registration, everything has been made automatic and convenient. The achievement of transparency has remained a common feature throughout.

TRANSFORMATION OVER THE YEARS:

Trademarks have gone through drastic changes and the statute governing them has seen many amendments. The transformations are:

1. In 2012-13, special drives were set up to dispose contested matters and for recording of post-registration changes. An online tool for the correction of discrepancies in the applications was made available to the public.

2. In 2013-14, the introduction of Madrid Protocol for the International registration of trademarks and appropriate disposal of applications through PARM Backlog special drive were remarkable changes. Dynamic Utility services for the real time examination of the stages of Trademark registration were introduced to the public.

3. In 2015-16, amicable procedures like Mediation and Conciliation for the disposal of disputes were initiated to bring down the pendency in opposition matters. CGPDTM ensured stringent compliance with RTI, 2005.

4. 2016-17 has brought a remarkable transformation in the trademark era by the introduction of Trademark Rules, 2017. Setting up of a user friendly processes like provision of concession to the Start Ups, single application forms, video conferences for hearings, emails as mode of service of documents, incentivized electronic filing, expedited prosecution procedure, upgradation of online search programmes, bringing of renewal and registration under the automated system, further improvement in publication, electronic sending of official communications, availability of hearing cause list on website and effective consultative process systems were made available.

INITIATIVES: SMS alerts for examination reports, e-verification of signatures, developing of Mobile App services for provision of information.

TRADEMARK TRENDS:

From the above table it can be deduced that filing has increased from 2012-2016, while there has been a marginal dip from 2016-17. On the whole the number of registrations have increased even though there was a dip in 2014-15. The number of applications disposed have drastically increased showcasing that the Trademark Registry has been working efficiently.

IP protection has encouraged creativity, innovation and has created a favourable climate for technology transfer. In today's tech-savvy world, human intervention is least preferred, therefore, automating the procedures with regards to trademarks has been of great support and convenience. Hence, this shift in the IPR industry has helped in stimulating the growth in the economy.

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