NON-CONVENTIONAL TRADEMARKS AND ITS PROSPECTS

Abstract

“Innovation means you” is a tagline used by the Philips technology and to a certain context this tagline is defining the future of the human race. The entire human race has progressed on this very principle of “innovation”, starting from lighting fire from rubbing stones to an age where lighters hit the spark. This has also been seen in the field of intellectual property rights. This field has seen some drastic changes, from the times where people didn’t even knew the meaning of the term to a time when people are asking trademarks for those things as well which can only be felt and not seen. The present essay aims at highlighting the importance of trademarks in some non conventional areas like smell and colour, which cannot be touched or seen but has a major impact on the minds of the consumer. Not only have they created an impact on the minds of the consumers but also on the business lines as now brands like channel and yahoo have got their scents and doodles trademarked respectively. This has all together changed the way people used to think about trademarks and has introduced a completely new line of business products into the trademark sector.

These trademarks are particularly challenging because they alter the definition of the trademarks, though the purpose remains intact. This essay deals with the trademarks 

Trademarks play a very important role not only in the realm of the intellectual property but also from the perspective of the general development in the society. The idea behind trademarks is multi layered.A trademark is economically efficient because it allows the consumer to identify the service or good that he prefers and to buy that to the exclusion of others in the future.Moreover, since good quality is associated with that particular trademark, infringement claims exist when another undertaking uses a similar mark. This prevents the latter from unjustly enriching from the labour and reputation of the holder of the original mark, and protects consumer interests. Traditionally this was restricted to the graphical representation and therefore only a certain logos/ designs were registered as trademarks. But with the evolution of technology and the perception of the consumer mind sets, it was felt that the trademarks are lacking a certain crucial aspect.Increasingly all over the world, recognizing the potential contained therein, different combinations have been sought to be trademarked. This includes a variety of things ranging from the Intel jingle to the shape of the Coca Cola bottle. The common feature of these trademarks is that they are not visually perceptible but yet they have been trademarked because of certain level of identification involved from the consumer point of view. While such new types of marks raise interesting conceptual questions, theyare of a more immediate and pragmatic concern to an Indian audience. It has been widely reported that the Indian trade mark registry recently registered a soundmark for Yahoofollowed by another for Allianz Aktiengesellschaft.