best Lawyers in Delhi and Mumbai

CONSULT THE BEST TRADE MARK AND COPYRIGHT LAWYERS IN INDIA

We help you to consult and hire the best Supreme Court & High Court Trade Mark And Copyright lawyers in India. Use filters to narrow your search and find the best advocate in India, whether its a family dispute or divorce lawyer, property lawyer, employment or labor court lawyer, criminal lawyer, recovery or cheque bounce lawyer, taxation or corporate lawyer, or a lawyer expert in any other field of law.

Get Legal Consultation




  1. Home
  2. Find a Lawyer
  3. Trade Mark And Copyright

Lawyers for Trade Mark And Copyright in India

What is Copyright?

In layman’s language, Copyright means “legal right to control the production and selling of music, book, play, film, or any piece of original workâ€

The Copyright Act of 1957 provides copyright protection in India. It confers copyright protection in the following two forms:-

  1. Economic rights of the author: The copyright consists of original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works; cinematography films, and sound recordings.

  2. Moral rights of the author: This act defines the two basic ‘moral rights of an author’

1. Right of Paternity,

2. Right of Integrity.

Copyright Board has been constituted by the Central Government following section 11(1) to discharge judicial functions. This Board consists of a Chairman (who is, or has been a judge of a High Court or is qualified for appointment as a judge of a High Court) and two other members (max.14 members). After consultation with the Chairman, the Central Government may appoint the Registrar of Copyrights who shall be the Secretary of the Copyrights Board and will efficiently discharge his functions.

Copyright Laws in India

SECTION 12 (Powers and Procedure of Copyright Board)

According to section 12(1), the Board has the power to regulate its procedure, including the fixing of the places and times of its sittings.

 The Board may exercise its power through Benches constituted by the Chairman. This section makes it clear that no member shall take part in any proceedings where he has a personal interest. Any act done or proceeding taken by this Board cannot be questioned on the ground merely of the existence of any vacancy in, or defect in the constitution of the Board. The most important part of this section says, that the Copyright Board shall be deemed to be a Civil Court of sections 345 and 346 of the code of Criminal proceedings, and all the proceedings before the Board shall be deemed to be judicial proceedings within the meaning of sections 193 and 228 of IPC.

SECTION 13 (Works in which Copyright subsists)

According to this section copyright subsists in the following works:

  1. Original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works;

  2. Cinematograph films; and

  3. Sound recordings.

Clause (a) of section 13 protects original works whereas clauses (b) and (c) protect derivative works.

SECTION 14 (MEANING OF COPYRIGHT

However, according to section 14 doing any of the following acts in respect of a work or any substantial part thereof will be termed as Copyright, namely:-

a)  In the case of a literary, dramatic or, musical work not being a computer program,-

1. To produce the work in any material form or store of it in any medium by electronic means

2. To issue copies of the work to the public not being copies already in circulation.

3. To perform the work in public, or communicate it to the public,

4. To make any cinematograph film or sound recording without permission of the original producer.

5. To adapt the work.

b) In case of a computer program:-

1) To sell or give or hire, or offer for sale or hire, any copy of the computer program, regardless of whether such copy has been sold or given on hire on earlier occasions.

In the case of artistic work, cinematograph film, sound recording above clauses will be applicable as well.

Section 14(a) of the Copyright Act, 1957 cannot be interpreted to mean that right of the producer of sound recording to communicate his work to the public under Section 14(e)(iii) of the Act, is lost.

SECTION 19 (MODE OF ASSIGNMENT)

This section lays down the conditions for the assignment of copyright. It is an essential condition that the assignment of copyright should be in writing and signed by the assignor or his duly authorized agent, otherwise it shall not be valid. It is further required that the assignment of copyright must identify such work and specify the rights assigned, the duration, and the territorial extent of such assignment.

SECTION 20 (TRANSMISSION OF COPYRIGHT)

According to this section if the author of the copyright dies, who was working on a manuscript of dramatic, literary, artistic, or musical work and was not able to publish the same before dying, then, in that case, the ownership of that copyright is transmitted to the person whose name is stated in the will of the author.

What is a Trademark?

Trademark is a branch of IPR or Intellectual Property Rights. An intellectual property right allows and ensures people to maintain ownership rights of their innovative product and creative activity. The intellectual property came to light because of the efforts and hard works of human labor, so it is limited by several charges for the registration and charges for infringement. Types of intellectual property are Trademarks, Copyright Act, Patent Act, and  Designs Act.

A trademark includes a name, word, or sign that differentiates goods from the goods of other enterprises. The owner can prevent the use of his mark or sign by another competitor.

Trademark is a marketing tool for increasing the financing of the business. A trademark is not always or never a brand but the brand is always a trademark. Sometimes there is confusion between trademark and brand. The brand name can be simply a symbol or logo but the trademark is a distinguishing sign or indicator in a business organization as it has a wider implication than brands. People are more attracted and influenced by the distinctive trademark that reflects the quality of the product. A trademark can be a logo, picture mark, or slogan.

Trademark law in India: Before 1940 there was no law on trademarks in India. Several problems of infringement of registered and unregistered trademark arose which were resolved under Section 54 of the Specific Relief Act, 1877, and registration was adjudicated under the Indian Registration Act,1908. To overcome these difficulties, the Indian Trademark law was enforced in 1940. After the enforcement of the trademark law, demand for the protection of trademarks increased as there was major growth in trade and commerce.

The Trademark law was replaced with the Trademark and Merchandise Act, 1958. It provides better protection of trademark and prevents misuse or fraudulent use of marks on merchandise. The Act provides registration of the trademark so that the owner of the trademark may get a legal right for its exclusive use.

This previous Act got replaced with the Trademark Act, 1999 by the government of India by complying with the TRIPS (Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) obligation recommended by the World Trade Organization. The main motive behind the trademark act is to ensure full protection to the users of the trademark and direct condition of the property as well as legal remedies and implementation of trademark rights.

Registration of Trademark: Any person claiming to be the owner of the trademark or supposed to used the trademark by him in the future for this he may apply in writing to the appropriate registrar in a prescribed manner. The application must contain the name of the goods, mark and services, class of goods and the services in which it falls, name and address of the applicant, and duration of use of the mark. Here the person means an association of firms, partnership firm, a company, trust, state government, or the central government.

Procedure and Duration of registration: The registrar on the application by the proprietor of issuing trademark in the prescribed manner within the given period with the adequate payment of fees. Registration of a trademark shall be of ten years and renewal of the registered trademark is also for ten years from the date of expiration of the original registration or the last renewal of registration.

The registrar shall send the notice before the expiration of the last registration in the prescribed manner to the registered proprietor. The notice mentions the date of expiration and payment of fees and upon which a renewal of registration may be obtained if at the expiration of the time given on that behalf those conditions have not duly complied with the registrar may remove the trademark from the register.

But the registrar shall not remove the trademark from the register if implication made within the prescribed form and the prescribed rate is paid within six months from the expiration of the final registration of the trademark and shall renew the registration of the trademark for ten years. If the trademark is removed from the register for non-payment of the prescribed fee, the registrar shall after six months and within one year from the expiration of the last registration of the trademark renew the registration,

And also on the receipt of implication in the prescribed form and on payment of the prescribed fee the registrar restores the trademark to the register and renews the registration of the trademark, for ten years from the expiration of the last registration.

Case laws

Hearst company Vs Dalal avenue verbal exchange Ltd.

The courtroom held that a trademark is infringed when a character in the course of trade makes use of a mark that is the same with or deceptively similar to the trademark in terms of the goods in respect of which the trademark is registered. Use of the mark by using such man or woman needs to be in a manner which is more likely to be taken as getting used as a trademark.

South Indian Music Companies v/s Union of India:-

In this case, the petitioner challenged the existing legal framework governing the working of the Copyright Board. The Court rejected the argument that the existing legal framework fails to preserve the adjudicatory of the Copyright Board. However, the Court agreed that there should be at least one judicial member in the Board.

Reviews

Average Rating (2.1) - 142 reviews

Lawyer Services Lawtendo Price Range: 500 to 5000 ₹ 9671633666 25 Kembrose Estate, Off, LBS Marg, Bhandup, Sadan wadi, Bhandup West, Mumbai, Maharashtra
2.1 out of 5 stars - 142 Reviews