{"id":33180,"date":"2023-01-21T09:10:58","date_gmt":"2023-01-21T03:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=33180"},"modified":"2025-04-19T19:56:56","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T14:26:56","slug":"what-constitutes-a-trademark-violation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/what-constitutes-a-trademark-violation\/","title":{"rendered":"What constitutes a trademark violation?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is Intellectual Property (IP)?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is a Trademark?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What Constitutes a Trademark Violation?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>News Summary with respect to the Subway vs Suberb Case<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A &#8216;sub&#8217; is not just a Subway sandwich, the Delhi High Court ruled recently, dismissing a trademark infringement case brought by the global fast-food chain against Suberb, a Delhi-based restaurant.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is Intellectual Property (IP)?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/EB4DvG4vbEVagWGfZIvEEoXFLwUXhWhRZWVqPUXHVdHsmTJSQLDOXURciBOfTeUgzUH-j00PjvrX6jN1dLO9uB2ClgT1V6ifE3GCAaRL2C2A4pKTAjhIQVAQbMe2fl1lAaX5Vm7S5OcjtpmrD0_MsA\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Caption: Patent vs Copyright vs Trademark<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>IP refers to <strong>creations of the mind<\/strong>, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs and symbols, names and images<strong> used in commerce.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>IP is protected in law <\/strong>enabling people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system<strong> aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Types of IP:<\/strong> Copyright, Patents,<strong> Trademarks, <\/strong>Industrial designs, Geographical indications (GI) and Trade secrets.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Governing regulations:<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS): <\/strong>It is an international legal agreement, which <strong>establishes minimum standards <\/strong>for the regulation by national governments of different forms of IP.<\/li>\n<li><strong>IP rights in India are governed under the: <\/strong>The Trade Marks Act 1999, The Patents Act 1970 (amended in 2005), The Copyright Act 1957, The Designs Act 2000, The GI of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 1999, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is a Trademark?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>A trademark is a symbol, design, word or phrase<\/strong> that is identified with a business and when a trademark is registered, its owner can claim \u201c<strong>exclusive rights<\/strong>\u201d on its use.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Trademark Act 1999<\/strong> guarantees protection for a trademark that is registered with the Controller General of Patents, Designs, and Trademarks, also known as the<strong> trademark registry<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>A trademark is valid for <strong>10 years<\/strong>, and can be renewed by the owner indefinitely every 10 years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What Constitutes a Trademark Violation?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Using a registered trademark <strong>without authorisation of the entity that owns the trademark<\/strong> is a violation or infringement of the trademark.<\/li>\n<li>There are several ways in which a trademark can be infringed such as <strong>Deceptive similarity, passing off<\/strong> (Say, a brand logo is misspelt in a way that\u2019s not easy for the consumer to discern).\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>In such cases, courts have to determine <strong>whether this can cause confusion<\/strong> for consumers between the two.<\/li>\n<li>In such cases, the infringing products <strong>need not be identical<\/strong>, but similarity in the nature, character and performance of the goods of the rival traders has to be established. <strong>For example<\/strong>, Cadila Healthcare Limited vs Cadila Pharmaceuticals Limited.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>News Summary with respect to the Subway vs Suberb Case<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What was the Case before the Court?<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Subway filed a complaint in the Delhi HC against Infinity Foods, which operates Suberb restaurants in Delhi.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Subway claimed that the brand name and logo &#8220;Suberb&#8221;, with a yellow and green colour scheme, was <strong>identical to its mark &#8220;Subway&#8221;.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Subway owns trademarks in the brand name &#8220;Subway&#8221; as a whole<\/strong>, as well as for its sandwiches named &#8220;Veggie Delite&#8221; and &#8220;Subway Club&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li>Subway also claimed trademark infringement on Suberb&#8217;s menu card, outlet decor, and recipes.<\/li>\n<li>Suberb argued that Subway is a \u201c<strong>well-known brand<\/strong>\u201d, and that a consumer would not walk into a Suberb outlet confusing it with Subway.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the Delhi HC\u2019s Ruling in the Case?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The HC <strong>did not look into the issue of passing off<\/strong>, because the Subway would have to demonstrate that a \u201cperson of average intelligence\u201d would be confused between the goods and services of Subway and Suberb.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cSub\u201d is used as an <strong>abbreviation for \u201csubmarine\u201d<\/strong>, which represents a well-known variety of long-bodied sandwiches.<\/li>\n<li>Therefore,<strong> Subway cannot claim \u201cexclusivity\u201d or \u201cmonopoly\u201d over \u201csub\u201d<\/strong>, the first part of its trademark \u201cSubway\u201d.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>There was <strong>no similarity between the two other parts of the marks<\/strong> &#8211; \u201cway\u201d and \u201cerb\u201d. Hence, there was no likelihood of confusion to the public.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>As the defendants had agreed to change the lettering, font and colour scheme, <strong>no case for deceptive similarity was made out.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) What is the difference between Patent, Copyright and Trademark?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Copyright is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works. A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention. A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) Which intellectual property rights are violated when deceptive similarity and passing off are used?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>There are several ways in which a trademark can be infringed such as Deceptive similarity, passing off (Say, a brand logo is misspelt in a way that\u2019s not easy for the consumer to discern). In such cases, courts have to determine whether this can cause confusion for consumers between the two.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/what-constitutes-a-trademark-violation-subway-vs-suberb-in-hc-8394800\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><strong><u>What constitutes a trademark violation: Subway vs Suberb in Delhi High Court<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>VIDEO:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pQWYqiZYZgk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pQWYqiZYZgk<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trademark is a symbol, word which identifies a business and when registered,  owner can claim exclusive rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":33181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}