Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Trade Dress And Its Interpretation By Courts In India

Trade dress refers to characteristics of the visual or sensual appearance of a product that may also include its packaging which may be registered and protected from being used by competitors in relation to their business and services. The characteristic includes their shape (3 dimensional), packaging, colour, graphic design or even the smell of the product.
The concept of trade dress was first brought in under the Trademarks Act, 1999 under the definition of ‘Mark’ which replaced the previous Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958.

A ‘Mark’ includes a device, brand, heading, label, ticket, name (including abbreviations), signature, word, letter, numerals, shape of goods, packaging or combination of colours and any combination thereof. India allows registration in respect of goods as well as service marks, shape of goods, packaging or combination of colours.

No comments:

Post a Comment