An increasing number of Indian companies are registering their trademarks. This is evident from the 12 per annual growth in the number of applications for registering trademarks received by the Indian Intellectual Property Office, according to Chaitanya Prasad, Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademark.
Although the registration of trademark is not compulsory, it is advisable to register it for the purpose of recognition and better protection like any other valuable property, he said.
According to 2012 World Intellectual Property Indicators published by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), India’s filing volume surpassed that of Brazil in 2006, Japan’s and Korea’s in 2011. During 2011, Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademark departmentreceived the maximum number of trademark applications in Asia. While China continues to lead the Asian countries with the highest number of trademark applications, India is second, he told an interactive programme on International Registration of Trademarks – Madrid System.
Prasad said the Chennai region covering the southern States overtook Delhi region two years ago in receiving the maximum number of applications for getting patents. Last year, the department Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademark department received 43,000 applications of which the Chennai region’s share was around 35 per cent. Applications were received mainly from sectors such as electrical and electronics, pharma and biotech, he told newspersons on the sidelines of the event organised jointly by the Intellectual Property India, WIPO and FICCI (TN State Council).
Basmati
With regard to trademark filed by India for the basmati rice, Prasad said there is opposition from Pakistan on this. The issue is being looked at in the Chennai office of the IPO. India is the biggest producer of basmati rice, followed by Pakistan.
Madrid System
In April, India became the 90th country to be part of the Madrid System, which is a low cost and effective system to facilitate trademark protection in export markets. There is a lack of awareness on the benefits of the system among the industry and various stakeholders. With a single application and fee, a company can register a trademark in 90 countries, said Naresh Prasad, Executive Director and Chief of Staff, Office of the Director General, WIPO, Geneva.