The word "COVID" garnered itself a dreadful reputation
in 2020. As one can imagine, it still remains to be one of the most
trending and searched words on Google and also on the database of
trademark registries in almost all jurisdictions across the
world.
With respect to India, a shorter form of the word, i.e.
"COVI" has been the subject of an arduous battle for
trademark registration. As per the International Classification of
Goods and Services, also known as
the Nice Classification, all pharmaceutical preparations
fall under Class no. 5. As on date of writing this article, whilst
conducting a public search for wordmarks starting with the word
"COVI" under class 5, a total of 218 search results are
generated in the records of the Indian Trademarks Registry.
Unsurprisingly, majority of the applications for registration of
the wordmarks/ devices similar or identical to the word
"COVI" have been filed in 2020 itself, out of which over
100 applications are presently
