VISUAL AND PHONETIC SIMILARITY OF TRADEMARKS: STUDY OF JUDICIAL TRENDS IN INDIA

AUTHOR – MRINAL BIRLA, STUDENT AT SCHOOL OF LAW, NMIMS (DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY)

BEST CITATION – MRINAL BIRLA, VISUAL AND PHONETIC SIMILARITY OF TRADEMARKS: STUDY OF JUDICIAL TRENDS IN INDIA, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 4 (2) OF 2024, PG. 1188-1193, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

Abstract

Brand value and Goodwill are crucial for every company or business as it acts as its identity. Trademark provides identity and a sense of standard to any business by building its reputation and in order to boost any business, the importance of trademark should be understood as equal to a good quality product. Trademark creates value, brand name and helps in generating revenue for any business. Keeping in mind its importance in recognition of any enterprise or product, trademark is susceptible to misuse and infringement. The law relating to trademark is governed by the Trade Marks Act, 1999, which has set standards for determination of the distinctiveness of marks under Section 9 and Section 11. Even though the standards are set by the act, the issue requires judicial vision from time to time. Section 29(9) of the said Act incorporates the provisions relating to infringement of a registered mark due to phonetic similarity. It states that infringement of mark can be caused by virtue of being visually or phonetically similar. The Apex Court of India has on several instances observed that both eyes and ears should be used to compare trademarks. This paper aims to study the judicial trends in relation to visual and phonetic similarity of trademarks in India.

Keywords: Trademark, Similarity, Visual, Phonetic, Deceptive, Infringement, Protection, Judiciary, Precedents