Essay on Short Essay on Trademarks !
Any sign, or any combination of signs, capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertaking, shall be capable of constituting a trademark. Such signs, in particular words including personal names, letters, numerals, figurative elements and combinations of colours as well as any combination of such signs, shall be eligible for registration as trademarks.
Where signs are not inherently capable of distinguishing the relevant goods or services, Members may make registrability depend on distinctiveness acquired through use. Members may require, as a condition of registration, that signs be virtually perceptible.
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Members may make registrability depend on use. However, actual use of a trademark shall not be a condition for filing an application for registration. An application shall not be refused solely on the ground that intended use has not taken place before the expiry of a period of three years from the date of application. The Nature of the goods or services to which a trade mark is to be applied shall in no case form an obstacle to registration of the trademark.
Members shall publish each trademark either, before it is registered or promptly after it is registered and shall afford a reasonable opportunity for petitions to cancel the registration. In addition Member may afford an opportunity for the registration of a trademark to be opposed.
The owner of a registered trademark shall have the exclusive right to prevent all third parties not having the owner’s consent from using in the course of trade identical or similar signs for goods or services which are identical or similar to those in respect of which the trademark is registered where such use would result in a likelihood of confusion.
These rights shall not prejudice any existing prior rights, nor shall they affect the possibility of Members making rights available on the basis of use. Article 6 of the Paris Convention (1967) shall apply mutatis mutandis to services. Members may provide limited exceptions to the rights conferred by a trademark to protect the interests of the owner of the trade mark and of third parties. Initial registration and each renewal of registration, of a trademark shall be for a term of no less than seven years. The registration of a trademark shall be renewable indefinitely.