Trademark Opposition in India

The Trademark law provides that a mark shall not be registered if it is identical with or similar to the earlier trademark even though it is to be registered for goods or services, which are not similar to those for which the earlier mark is registered, if this earlier trademark is a well known mark and the registration of the mark would be detrimental to the reputation of this well known mark.

The recent case of Sony Corporation V. Jasbir Singh Kohli & Anr. 2005 (31) PTC 486 (IPAB) dwells on registerability of marks in India that are identical or similar to a well-known trademark. The Trademark Act, as amended in 1999, makes registration of a mark that is identical to a well-known trademark, even with respect to a different class of goods, a relative ground of opposition.