Trade Mark, Copyrights and Designs
An overlap issue is one where the holder of the Intellectual Property Right tries to assert his right under more than one concept. Softwares are protected under both copyright laws and patent laws. Similarly, industrial design patents that could be protected under the Designs Act, in specific cases, garner protection under copyright and trademark as well.
When issues arise due to overlapping of various types of Intellectual Property Rights the courts have majorly followed two approaches.
Either the courts should let the parties enforce such rights and benefit from such overlap or it should limit the scope by forcing them to demand protection under just one of the doctrines.
The benefit of the latter option results in clear demarcation and better implementation of the rights as the scope and limitation of every right is different.
Overlap in many cases is unavoidable therefore a need arises to maintain a harmonious coexistence between these rights.
Difference between Copyright, Trademark and Design
To understand the cause of the overlap and its scope, let’s start with a general understanding of the terms copyright, trademark and design as per Indian laws.
Copyright
It is a bundle of rights vested in the author/owner or a creator of the copyright under Section 14 of the Indian Copyrights Act, 1957. Copyright protection is granted to creators of original works. Work includes literary works, dramatic, musical, artistic, cinematographic films and sound recordings. Right to adaptation, reproduction, publication, translation, communication to the public are some examples of the rights vested.
The ‘expression of the idea’ is protected rather than the idea itself. Computer programmes (including computer databases expressed in words, codes, schemes or any other forms), tables and compilations are put under literary works. Owners of work are only entitled to exercise these rights.
Trademark
As the world globalised, trade names, brand names, marks etc garnered immense value and therefore required some minimum protection. The TRIPS agreement came up with efficient procedures to ensure the same and thus the old Indian Trade and Merchandise Act, 1958 was amended in the year 1999 and the Trademarks Act was enacted as a result.
The Act encompasses many provisions such as filing of multi-class applications, service marks registrations, increasing the term of registration etc.
A trademark is registered for 20 years and renewal is necessary within 6 months. Section 135 of the Trademark Act, 1999 deals with infringement and passing off of trademarks.
Design
- Shape
- Configuration
- Pattern
- Ornament
- Composition of lines or colours
These are applied to any article which can either be two or three dimensional or in both of these forms. The article should be produced by an industrial process or other means (mechanical, manual, chemical). It can be a combination of these processes or the result of an individual one. The finished product should be appealed and judged only by the eye.
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