Unconventional Trademarks

Priyank Rao1

I. Introduction
This paper will focus on the role unconventional trademark plays in the regime of
trademark along with the relevant statutory provisions and case laws. Whenever the
question arises of any trademark, it is of utmost importance to understand the
concept of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Intellectual Property Rights provides
the right of ownership to the creator of any innovative or creative product, the
Intellectual Property Rights can be termed as standing par with any other product
over which you have a right. Trademark comes under the domain of Intellectual
Property Rights, the primary role of trade mark is to protect the mark of a product or
of a service to preserve the very essence of a product from its competitive products. A
non-conventional trademark, that also goes by the name of non-traditional
trademark is a relatively new concept in the regime of trademark. There is no
statutory definition of unconventional trade and any definition can only be termed as
an inclusive definition as it is not possible to define unconventional trademark in its
totality. Unconventional trademark can be defined to include colour, sounds, shape,
motions, smells, and tastes.

The Trade Marks Act, 1999 under section 2(m) 2, recognizes shape of goods,
combination of colours or any such combination thereof and when read with Trade
Marks Rules, 20173 sound in prescribed format as an acceptable trademark. Although
both of them does not expressly include smell, motion, taste etc, as trademarks,
though if they are qualify the criteria of distinctiveness and capability of being
presented visual graphical manner, they would deserve the trademark registered
status in India.4 The Indian position on unconventional trademark is still an evolving
1
Student 4th year 02316503516 BBA-LLB University School of Law and Legal Studies, GGS Indraprastha University, New Delhi.
2
http://www.ipindia.nic.in/writereaddata/Portal/IPOAct/1_43_1_trade-marks-act.pdf
3
http://www.ipindia.nic.in/writereaddata/Portal/IPORule/1_69_1_312_1_TRADE_MARKS_RULES_2017__English.pdf
4
Unconventional trademarks: An Indian perspective by Dheeraj Kapoor and Shilpi Jain
one, In India it will take a long time of legislative amendments and precedents to
form a codified benchmark for times to come.

The various types of unconventional trademark and their evolution will be discussed
later in this paper.

Un-conventional Trademarks: Meaning

The term un-conventional trademarks‟ encompasses marks that don't fall under the
conventional set of marks e.g. those consisting of letters, numerals, words, logos,
pictures, symbols, or mixtures of 1 or a lot of of those components, and so includes
marks based on look, shape, sound, smell, style and texture. bound kinds of
nonconventional logos became a lot of wide accepted in recent times as a results of
legislative changes increasing the definition of „trademark‟. Such developments
square measure the result of international treaties addressing holding, like the
Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of holding Rights, that sets down an even,
inclusive legal definition of „Trademark‟. Single color marks, motion marks,
holograph marks, shape marks called 3 dimensional logos or 3D logos, and sound
marks called aural logos, square measure samples of non-conventional logos.
historically, trademarks have been visual and diagrammatically recognizable.
However, with the increasing diversity of business ventures, logos associated with
simply 2 dimensional visual representations have given thanks to a overplus of
nonconventional logos that square measure distinguishable by senses other than
sight. many square measure mentioned below:
II. Historical background
The incorporation of unconventional trademark under The Trademarks Act 1999
which categorically replaced Trade and Merchandise Marks Act 1958, was mainly
credited to the incorporation of international standard of registration of trademark
under the TRIPS agreement and the Paris convention. India as a member of World
Trade Organization is under the obligation to incorporate the substantive laws under
its local acts, furthermore Article 2.1 of TRIPS agreement makes it mandatory to all
member nation to implement all substantive provisions of Paris Convention in its
local laws. Incorporation of unconventional trademark was imperative as the rising
demand of unconventional trademarks leaves no stone unturned of the importance
of unconventional trademark. The switch toward digital platform was inevitable, with
the continuous rise in the technology sector the demand also increases substantially.
Today unconventional trademark is one of the most prominent form of marketing 5,
to meet with this demand it was imperative to develop the legal framework to meet
the rising demand and balance out the interest of various parties.

The ancient and traditional emblems for the excellence between merchandise like
easy words, devices, logos and styles have long been used. Over time alternative
components have served as identifiers for the supply of goods / services, apart from
words, logo, color mixtures and graphic style, thereby fulfilling the function of marks.
These new brands transcend the character, characteristic, scope and economic
potential of traditional emblems. within the stigmatization ways, the digital and
social media revolution brought paradigm shifts. the foremost putting stigmatization
strategy of the twenty first century ar non-traditional emblems.1 This technological
reassessment has convinced several corporations to use color,2 sound,3 smell,4 scent
of the raspberries,5 touch6 then on to experiment with "extreme marking." For quite
a decade, form, colour, sew style and sound are employed by varied corporations to
represent whole origins, though they need been legal protected and registered
thenceforth. as an example, only within the I960 registration of emblems was
granted to the contour bottle of dope originally designed in 1915. the form of the
Coco-cola packages bottle is painting and is that the solely whole recognizable in the
world by itself.7 Since decennium there had been color emblems. On its distinctive'
Tiffany blue' packages Tiffany maintains a color mark–special blue boxes for the
5
Lindstorm Martin, Brand Sense: B uild Powerful Brands through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight a n d Sound (Kogan Page Publisher, 2005)
jewelry. Tiffany blue could be a lightweight blue shade, which the company created
for its own 1845 product.8 Pink color trademark is another example. Since 1956, the
isolation of Owens Corning 9has been artificial pink for visual distinction. As a
result, the corporate became thus connected with its pink insulation product that it
recorded for its isolation the word mark PINK. whereas color blends, long protected
as a trademark, it was only within the Nineteen Eighties, once Owens-Corning
launched the suppose Pink campaign in favor of fibreglass insulating, that the US law
recognized one color as a trademark. Finally, pink color was deemed protecting as a
trademark by judicial resolution10 in 1985, and therefore the US Court dominated
the company's right to forestall others from applying' pink color' for insulation.11
History shows that a mark can even be a sewing pattern. From 1873 the arced sewing
style or a prominent piece (strengthening red tab) was systematically applied to jeans
as emblems.12 The lion's roar has been proclaimed since 1924 by Metro-Goldwyn-
Mayer Corporation (MGM). It afterward requested that the sound mark be registered
in 1985.13 The NBC chimes had been registered in 1950 for sound trademarks. Since
1994 Intel has been victimisation its sound signature as Associate in Nursing audio
signature and is worldwide registered in many countries. Trademark rights ar
established by client acknowledgement in nontraditional marks.

III. Registrability of Unconventional Trademarks in

India

The Trade Marks Act, 1999 under section 2(m), recognizes shape of goods,
combination of colours or any such combination thereof and when read with Trade
Marks Rules, 2017 sound in the prescribed format as registrable trademark.

Article 15.1 of the TRIPS agreement provides for a universally binding definition
Article 15.1 requires a uniform and binding definition of trademarks among WTO
Members. In conformity with Article 15.1, World trade organization participants
must use distinctiveness as a primary requirement for registrability and make
registration available for all signs that are capable to differentiation. 6

6
The International Registration of Non-traditional Trademarks: Compliance with the TRIPS Agreement and the Paris Convention by Qian
Zhan
Section 2(1) (zb) of the Indian Trade Mark Act defines trademark as “mark capable of
being represented graphically.

Lastly Rule 2(1)(k) of the Trade Mark Rules, 2017 stipulates that a graphical
representation signifies the representation of a trade mark in paper form be it goods
or services.

India tends a modern approach towards registration of unconventional trademark,

even though there is no clear procedure for registration of touch, smell and taste
mark, the trademark registration manual of the Trade Marks Registry 7 provides the
necessary guidelines as to the examination procedures and registrability criteria of
unconventional trademarks.

It is clear from the bear reading of the statutory provisions, what is essential for
registration of trademark is its visual graphical representation, though the definition
of trademark is open-ended with primary focus on functional aspect of the marks,
problem arises with the new unusual/unconventional trademarks, as the
identification of their visual graphical representation becomes an difficult task 8

For a clear understanding of Registrability of unconventional Trademarks in India it

is of utmost importance to first understand the European-Union stand of
Unconventional trademark as the India Trade Mark Regime has simply followed the
European-Union landmark case of Shield Mark BV v. Kist9 the Court of Justice held
the question of registration of sound marks in affirmative, and held that the graphic
representation of is a sine qua non for registration of unconventional trademark.

In India the first case regarding registration of sound mark came in the Yahoo yodel 10
case. In this particular case the yodel was represented through a medium of musical
notes. It was held that it is necessary to show secondary meaning of the
unconventional trademarks like in this case “sound marks” before proceeding with
registration of the sound mark. With a very limited applications for registration the
prevalence of ambiguities is not hidden in the realm of unconventional trademarks.
An important question arises on whether secondary meaning is necessary for all the

7
A draft of Manual Trade Marks, Practice and Procedure, [hereinafter referred to as The Manual] 10th March, 2015, India, available at:
http://www.ipindia.nic.in/writereaddata/Portal/IPOGuidelinesManuals/1_32_1_tmr-draft-manual.pdf (last visited on May 14, 2020)
8
Dev Gangjee, “Non-Conventional Trademarks in India” 22(1) NLSIR (2010)
9
Shield Mark BV v. Kist, Case C-283/01, The European Court of Justice
10
August 2008 India, https://www.inta.org/INTABulletin/Documents/INTABulletinVol63no17.pdf (last visited 15/05/2020)
sound marks or is it only for the common sounds that exist and not for the inherently
distinguishable sound.

After reading the statutory provisions and going through international and national
standard of unconventional trademark, the essential requirement to qualify for
registration of unconventional trademark are as follows:

 There must be a mark

 The mark shall be capable of visual graphical representation
 And lastly must be capable of distinguishing between the goods and services
of one person from another.

IV. Types of Unconventional Trademarks vis-à-vis

Indian scenario and US scenario

1. Sound mark

As already discussed above the first sound to be registered as unconventional

trademark was the Yahoo’s yodal case. After Yahoo yodal, ICICI got its corporate
tune registered as sound mark “Dhin Chik Dhin Chik” followed by the
registration of yet another sound mark in India of Allianz Aktiengesellschaft, and
of Tarzen Yell for Edgar Rice Burroughs. What is essential is to find weather the
sound has the potential to be distinct or has acquired acquired distinctiveness.

A sound trademark could be a non-conventional trademark wherever the

trademark operate of uniquely characteristic the business origin of product or
services is achieved by suggests that of associate audio clip. below most
conventions and statutory provisions the definition of trademark either
encompasses sound as a trademark, or at the terribly least, doesn't exclude such
marks. Only a few of states have a customary or a collection of necessities to be
met for sound trademarks. These standards have evolved mostly thanks to the
cases prosecuted, and since even in those countries the amount of applications
prosecuted has been restricted, guidelines, if any, are not okay developed.
Although trademark laws passed within the Europe don't expressly embody
sound within the definition of logos, the ecu Court of Justice felt that sound signs
may well be registered as logos ciao as their use created it doable to differentiate
the products or services of 1 enterprise from those of alternative undertakings. To
be registered within the European Union, sounds should not solely follow ancient
trademark laws however even be represented diagrammatically in a very
approach that's clear, precise, self-contained, equally accessible, intelligible,
sturdy and objective. In general, applications within the sort of musical notations
describing the sound meet these necessities, whereas onomatopoeic descriptions
don't. This means that musical notes which will be drawn within the sort of
musical notations ar acceptable whereas noises sort of a dog barking or a lion
roaring that can't be drawn by a notational system however should be represented
onomatopoeically or through a ikon cannot be eligible for a trademark within the
Europe. underground film producer Mayer (MGM) Corporation had applied for
the registration of a sound, that of a Lion roaring, by submitting a sonogram for
the “Lion‟s roar”. the applying has been refused within the Europe. Interestingly,
a similar trademark has been granted within the United States of America. within
the u. s., whether a sound will function a trade mark “depends on the aural
perception of the hearer which can be as short because the sound itself unless, of
course, the thusund is so inherently totally different or distinctive that it attaches
to the imperceptible mind of the hearer to be woke up once detected and to be
related to the supply or event with that it stricken.” Quite merely this implies that
if a sound lingers within the mind of the hearer and therefore the hearer
afterward associates a source or event thereupon sound then the sound is also
eligible for a trademark

2. Colour mark

The draft manual expressly accepts the combination of colours as acceptable

trademark, what is necessary is being able to distinguish it from others,
consequently a single colour cannot be registered as it inherently lack the capacity
to distinguish unless it can prove that it has acquired distinctiveness and
secondary meaning with respect to the goods it has been applied to.

A specific shade of color will operate as a trade mark; but, the method of
registration is not simple. you want to show that you just have used the color as a
trade mark which the general public have return to spot that color along with
your explicit product or services. Trade marks for combinations of colors are
often easier to register as there is also a less common would like for their use. All
product have some color however it's primarily used as ornamentation. There are
cases wherever color has been allowed as a trade mark. Cadbury's applied to
register the color purple as a trade mark. They were unable to register the final
color purple however were successful in registering a selected shade of purple as a
trade mark, once used on the packaging for block chocolate and boxed chocolate.

Motion Trademark

The increasing market competition and the widespread use of digital marketplace
have paved the way for motion trademarks, which consist of an innovative and
unique animation created with the help of a computer program or some other
moving object existing in the real world. Without any second thoughts, a motion
trademark should fulfill the requirement of 'distinctiveness' and be depicted
precisely in the trademark application. The series of movements or succession of
images in the proposed motion trademark is indeed the most crucial aspect,
which may subject to its legal protection. While preparing the application for the
proposed motion trademark, it is necessary to make sure that the mark is
coherent and brief. The concerned authorities in different countries do raise
objections if the proposed motion trademark fails to meet the requirement of
uniformity.

Some widely-known examples of registered motion trademarks include the zoom-

in view of the female statue at the starting of every Columbia Pictures' movie,
Microsoft Windows logo appearing while turning on a windows laptop or PC, the
lighting effects, which rotate around the microphone of Apple's SIRI personal
assistant and knowledge navigator, Nokia phone's opening screen display, Sony
Mobile's moving depiction of its circular logo, and so on.

Hologram Trademark

A hologram refers to a cross between what happens when you click a photograph
and what happens when you actually look at something for real. To be specific, a
hologram is a permanent record of the light reflected off an object; however, it
also appears real and three-dimensional, and like a real object, it moves as you
look around it. A hologram trademark is the one in which a hologram serves the
purpose of a trademark, that is, uniquely identifying the commercial origin of
goods and services. What turns as an obstacle in the trademark registration of a
hologram mark is the difficulty faced to prove it as the source identifier of the
product. Applicants who are looking forward to filing a trademark application for
a hologram mark must satisfy the usual elements required for a trademark and
also describe every view formed on the hologram when it is moved.

Some widely-known examples of registered hologram trademarks include the

Glaxo Group's hologram trademark registrations that appear on their packaging
of goods like toothpaste, dental floss, and mouth wash, American Express'
hologram trademark in the United States for the surface of its credit card, and so
on.

3D Trademark

A 3D trademark includes both the shape of the goods and their packaging. The
trademark registration of 3D marks for the products is now the ultimate goal of
the brand owners out there, as the same has become increasingly complicated
with time. A 3D mark can, in general, be protected as a trademark but not if the
shape of the product is its essential characteristic of use. The scope of trademark
protection of a 3D mark heavily depends on the goods and services for which it is
applied; hence, it is imperative to attach an all-inclusive list of the goods and
services to the trademark application.
Some widely-known examples of registered 3D trademarks include the packaging
of the Ferrero Rocher chocolate, the 4-bar shape of the KitKat chocolate, the
packaging of a Toblerone chocolate bar, and so on.

Position Trademark

A position trademark is the one in which a mark is affixed to or placed on a

product. It can be represented by an image, which shows how the mark is
positioned on the product, along with its size and proportion as compared to the
overall product. Like other trademarks out there, a position trademark must own
a distinctive character, i.e., allowing the customers to identify the same as coming
from a specific brand.

An example of a registered position trademark is the EU trademark no. 13755244,

registered on 17th July 2015, which comprises a figurative element placed on the
outer surface of a shoe's upper part, further extending lengthwise from the center
of the cuff of the shoe down to the sole.

Texture Trademark

In the legal terms, the feel of a product or its packaging can act as the source
identifier and hence qualify for obtaining trademark protection. In the scenario
where the feel or texture is critical to the use or purpose of the product or its
packaging or affects the quality or cost, it shall be considered functional and not
permitted trademark registration. In addition to satisfying the usual
requirements of getting a trademark registered, the applicants for this type of
non-conventional trademark need to provide an appropriate representation and
description of the texture with the trademark application.
 3. Shape mark
When it comes to shape marks, one has to establish distinctiveness for shapes
as required by section 9(1) of the Trade Marks Act,1999 .The Manual adopts
the factors required to provide structural evidence required such as the
applicant’s market consumption under that mark, the intensity and
geographical usage, investment in promoting the mark, evidence of consumer
recognition of the sign as a mark, and evidence from the trade that the sign is
considered to function as a mark.11

4. Smell, taste and touch marks

The draft manual leave the ends loose towards these types of marks, only a
gradual evolution on these area would provide a valuable and flexible
resources, only time will answer questions relating to these marks, what would
remain constant would be that the mark in exceptional circumstances
acquired a secondary meaning and is capable of visual graphical
representation.

A scent is also registered as a trade mark. A scent trade mark could be a

distinctive smell employed in relation to product or services to differentiate
them from the products or services of alternative traders. To qualify as a trade
mark, the scent should be related to a specific item or product to which it's
applied to feature associate uncommon or distinctive smell. a novel scent may
be associated with the supply of a service. A scent trade mark cannot be
simply the scent itself in isolation. as an example, a scent trade mark was
initial recognised in 1990 within the u. s., where a scent, represented as a high
impact, fresh, floral fragrance resembling dicot genus blossoms, applied to
stitching thread.

V. Development of Unconventional trademark in India

11
Non-Traditional Trade Marks: Relevance & Acceptance in India by Shami wasandi
To understand the status of unconventional trade mark in India it is of paramount
importance to study the relevant case laws pertaining to unconventional trademark.

 The 3D Shape issue

An important question relating to 3D shape came into consideration in Zippo

Manufacturing Company v Anil Moolchandanix12

In this particular case the plaintiff was a seller of lighters possessing the mark of
ZIPPO and was a registered proprietor to the 3D shape of the product. The defendant
was selling the exact replicas of the lighter. In the suit the court issued permanent
injunction defendant thereby prohibiting the defendant from selling identical
lighters as that of ZIPPO.

Though there is no mention of 3D shape in the trademark act still as the 3D shape as
that of a traditional trademark is capable of inherently distinctive the same shall not
be disbarred from registration under trademark act.

 Image mark

The TAJ MAHAL CASE13 The image of Taj mahal hotel got trade mark rights for its
image, it was one of the first case of this kind in India, though popular outside it was
relatively new concept in India, the primary reason behind was this was to protect
the a copycat imitation of the building, rendering its uniqueness futile.

 Combination of colour

Colgate Palmolive Company v Anchor Health and Beauty Care Pvt Ltd 14

In the case the supreme court held that a combination of colour can very well be
registered under the trademark act even went beyond to say even a single colour can
be given protection if it has acquired distinctiveness.

Deere and Co v S Harcharan Singh15

12
Zippo Manufacturing Company v Anil Moolchandani CS (OS) 1355/2006
13
May 19, 2017
14
Colgate Palmolive Company vs. Anchor Health and Beauty Care Pvt. Ltd. 2003 (27) 478 (Del)
15
Deere and Co v S Harcharan Singh (2015(63)PTC433(Del))
The plaintiff John Deere filed a complaint to protect its different colour combination
used on farm equipment’s, The John Deere leaping dear logo and green and yellow
colour combination was very popular in the market in defendant Surindera selling
like products had an uncanny resemblance to the plaintiff product the court in
favoured of John Deere granting protection to his trademark that is a colour
combination.

 Shape of goods

Gorbatschow Wodka KG v John Distilleries Limited16

In this particular case the Plaintiff was a seller of bottles with a very peculiar shape
the court after hearing arguments from both side prohibited the defendant from
using bottle shape that was identical to that of the plaintiff. The court expressly held
that “packaging or shape of goods is capable of trademark registration.”

Registrability of Non-conventional Trademarks in United States

The Lanham Act of the u. s. defines trademark, primarily, as any word, name,
symbol, or device3 , or any combination therefrom accustomed establish and
distinguish merchandise or services of 1 endeavor from those of alternative
undertakings.4 Thus, there's no demand of capability of graphical illustration for a
trademark. Now, the question is that what's the importance of graphical illustration
for a trademark and whether or not it will be withered away without diluting the first
operate of trademark because the supply symbol.5 The purpose behind graphical
illustration, whereas registration, of the trademark is to alter competitors and others
to understand what has been proprietary. Registration puts alternative producers on
notice that a trademark is already in use. this suggests that the man competitors and
therefore the public should know a given trademark in a very clear, precise, self-
contained, simply accessible, intelligible, durable and objective manner6 before
registration of the trademark. Despite this, there's no need for a mark to be
diagrammatically diagrammatic for the registration functions within the United
16
Gorbatschow Wodka KG v. John Distillers Limited, MANU/MH/0630/2011 : 2011 (47) PTC 100 Bom
States. The Trademark Rules of Procedure expressly provides for the registration of
sound marks. Sound marks that ar "not employed in written or written form" will be
registered once submitted on a disc.7 However, the factors for registering a sound
mark differs from those traditionally applied to word marks. In Re General electrical
Broadcasting Co8 , General Electric company wanted to register, as a sound mark, a
bell clock as a service mark for radio broadcasting services. The Trademark Trial and
appeals board (T.T.A.B.) command that this sound mark couldn't be registered as a
result of it absolutely was not established to identify the applicant's services. The
Board command that the mark wasn't inherently distinctive and secondary meaning9
had not been established. The opinion, written by body decide Lefkowitz, explicit
that "the criteria for the registration of sound marks" differed from traditional
trademark analysis. The aural perception of a sound mark could also be short, unless
"the thereforeund is so inherently completely different or distinctive that it attaches"
and awakens the imperceptible mind of the hearer once detected and is related to a
selected supply or event. The opinion set forth conditions beneath that sounds
operate as supply indicators." A distinction must be created between distinctive,
different, or distinctive sounds and people that fit or imitate 'commonplace' sounds
or those to that listeners are exposed beneath completely different circumstances.
This doesn't mean that sounds that fall inside the latter cluster, once applied outside
of the common surroundings cannot operate as marks for the services in association
with that they're used. But, whereas the discretional, distinctive or distinctive marks
ar registerable in and of itself on the Principal Register while not certificatory proof,
those who fall within the second class should be supported by proof to point out that
purchasers, prospective purchasers and listeners do acknowledge and associate the
sound with services offered and/or rendered completely with one, albeit anonymous,
source.” In alternative words, because of their nature, sound marks need proof of
distinctiveness, or within the various, proof of secondary which means, before being
entitled to registration. however a distinct spectrum of distinctiveness than that
applied to ancient marks is followed. The TTAB has outlined the spectrum because
the distinction between "unique, different, or distinctive" sounds on the one hand
and "commonplace" sounds on the opposite hand. it's pertinent to spotlight 3
problems. Firstly, there is no ought to prove secondary which means within the case
of inherently distinctive sounds. However, there's neither any rationalization of
inherently distinctive sounds or commonplace sounds nor any criteria for distinctive
inherently distinguishable sounds from common place sounds. Secondly, we will
draw a detailed analogy between sound marks and word marks. Sound marks that ar
plausible to be inherently distinctive ar just like the discretional or fanciful marks.
each of them don‟t need any prove of secondary which means. In distinction,
common place sounds ar just like the descriptive words in a very sense that each
need proof of secondary which means throughout registration of the mark. Lastly,
Sound marks ar completely different from the Word marks as a result of the previous
the previous any graphical registration whereas graphical representation is
important for the latter marks. This doesn‟t mean that sound marks ar in any
approach inferior to the word marks. They perform constant operate as performed by
the word marks. The Court, however, restricted the eligibility of color emblems to
solely those colors that have earned a "secondary meaning" and ar related to and
facilitate to spot and distinguish a selected complete and so indicate its supply. this
suggests that a color won't qualify to be treated as a trademark unless shoppers come
back to associate that color with a particular manufacturer or supply of products or
services. additionally, a color can not be a trademark if the color is practical in
nature. beneath this „functionality doctrine‟, if the feature of the merchandise that
protection is wanted is helpful or affects the value or the standard of the article,
specified granting trademark protection to the feature would place competitors at a
significant disadvantage, the feature isn't entitled to trademark protection

VI. Concluding observations

India shows a proactive approach towards unconventional trademark, it tends
towards the modern approach of registration of unconventional trademark, though it
still has many grey areas especially in the field of taste, smell and touch. The various
judicial decisions in future will create the path for future of trademark in India. The
first thing that comes in anyone’s mind after a through reading of unconventional
trademark is the countless possibilities it opens, the countless innovation that will
happen in the industry to seize the market, all that would be possible with strong
legal framework on unconventional trademark. The major obstacle ahead for India is
with the visual graphical representation requirement for registration of trademark.
The TRIPS agreement and the US framework does not oblige such requirement,
India followed the path of European-Union by incorporating the graphical
representation requirement. The need of the hour is liberalizing our trademark
regime for future developments.