Prior User Rights Of Trademark In India

Prior User Rights of Trademark in India

What happens if you apply for a trademark application and get the trademark registration, but later find that someone else has been using that same trademark since before you had filed?

Well, the principle of "Priority in adoption and use prevails over priority in registration" holds good in this context. It is a well accepted judicial principle that the rights of a prior user of the mark are kept on a higher pedestal than even that of the proprietor of a registered trademark. Prior user's rights will override those of a subsequent user even though the subsequent user had been accorded registration of its trademark.

Statutory provision