This article has been written by Ms Panya Sethi, a third year BBA.LLB student of Symbiosis Law School, Noida.
WHAT IS A TRADEMARK?”
Trademarks serve to distinguish one company’s goods or services from those of another. An important role of intellectual property law is the defense of trademarks. “A trademark is a kind of intellectual property that consists of a symbol, design, or phrase that is used to distinguish the goods or services of one party from those of another; trademarks for services are often referred to as service marks.”
TRADEMARK CLASSIFICATION
There are 45 distinct classes in the trademark system, each of which describes a distinct kind of commercial output. Registering for a course is different for each course. There are two parts to this categorization system, “Classes for Goods” and “Classes for Services,” and together they cover about 80,000 different items and services. Class 6 trademark information is explained in this page.
FILING OF TRADEMARK APPLICATION
“Classifying goods and services according to the class or classes under which they fall is important to guarantee that the trademark application seeking protection for the mark is submitted in the appropriate class with the Indian trademark office. India use the Nice Classification system for this purpose.”.
NICE CLASSIFICATION OF GOODS AND SERVICES
“The International (Nice) Classification of Goods and Services was first established by an Agreement at the Nice Diplomatic Conference on June 15, 1957, and it has since undergone changes in Stockholm in 1967 and Geneva in 1977.” Its primary objective is to facilitate the registration of trademarks. Since India joined the Nice Agreement on September 7, 2019, the Indian trademark office uses the most up-to-date version of the Nice Classification to categorize products and services in order to conduct a thorough examination of a trademark application.
Out of Nice’s total of 45 classes, classes 1 through 34 are used to divide up commodities, while classes 35 through 45 are used to divide up services. The Class Header in the Nice classification offers a high-level overview of the kind of products and services that fall under each of the several categories. Please find below a list of trademark classes and their related headings.
LIST OF GOODS WITH CLASS HEADERS (NICE CLASSIFICATION)
CLASS 6: Common metals and their alloys, ores; metals used in construction; metals used to create mobile structures; common metals used in non-electric cables and wires; common metals used in hardware; common metals used in storage, transport, and security containers; common metals used to make safes.
Examples of such trademarks in India include Dadu Pipes Private Limited, Aman Hardware Store, Baba Bare and Angle Private Limited, Pratik Shah, Pradeep Plastic, Peikko Group, Relicon, Tracker, Siro, Zone Plus, Zodic, Metal King, Zew Bath Fittings, Sharpfit, RTL, Compact Power Form, Compact Die Form, Suraj.
EXPLANATORY NOTE
Class 6 covers all common metals and their ores, as well as certain products that are either entirely or mostly composed of common metals. This class includes, in particular:
| Foil or powdered metals for use in other processes, such as those used to make 3D printer filament;Materials made of metal, used in construction, such as metal pipes and tubes used in the railroad industry;Hardware, usually made of metal, including nuts, bolts, screws, nails, casters, and fasteners for furniture and windows;metal constructions that can be moved easily, such as prefab homes, swimming pools, animal cages, and ice rinks;Towel dispensers, queue ticket dispensers, dog waste bag dispensers, and toilet paper dispensers are all examples of metal dispensing equipment that may be either automated or manually operated. Products made of common metals that do not fit into any other category, such as multi-purpose metal boxes, sculptures, busts, and other metal artworks.This class does not include:metals and ores that are processed and put to use in various industries and laboratories for their chemical qualities; “they include bauxite, mercury, antimony, and the alkaline and alkaline-earth metals (Cl.painting, decorating, printing, and art supplies that include metal (Cl. 2); metal foil and powder.classifications of dispensing equipment depending on their function, such as industrial fluid dispensing devices (Cl. 7) or electronic ticket dispensing terminals (Cl. 9) or medicinal dosage dispensers (Cl. 10) or sticky tape dispensing equipment (Cl. 16);cables and ropes (Cl. 22) that are not made of metal and are not used for transmitting electricity;stiff pipes, not made of metal (Cl. 19), and flexible pipes, tubes, and hoses (all used in sanitary applications) (Cl. 11);cages for pets kept in the home (Cl. 21);“Tools, hand-operated (Cl. 8), paper clips (Cl. 16), furniture (Cl. 20), cooking utensils (Cl. 21), and domestic containers (Cl. 22) are all examples of ordinary metal objects that are categorized according to their application (Cl. 21).”IMPORTANCE FOR PROPER CLASSIFICATION OF GOODS OR SERVICESFinding out what kind of products or services the trademark will be used for is crucial. If the trademark is going to be used in the manufacturing of pipes or railroad tracks, it belongs in Class 6; if it is going to be used in the “selling of shirts and trousers,” it belongs in Class 35, which covers retail shops, wholesale distributors, and the like. In the case of an infringement, the trademark owner would be unable to assert their rights if the application had been filed in the incorrect class. “TYPES OF GOODS UNDER TRADEMARK CLASS 6Buildings of metalMaterials of metal for railway tracksNon-electric cables and wires of common metalIronmongery, small items of metal hardwarePipes and tubes of metalSafesGoods of common metal not included in other classesOres.TYPES OF GOODS THAT DO NOT COME UNDER TRADEMARK CLASS 6Bauxite.Mercury, antimony, alkaline and alkaline-earth metals.Metals in foil and powder form for painters, decorators, printers and artists JUDICIAL PRECEDENTSA.R. Khaleel And Sons vs Registrar Of TradeMarks In India on 29 June, 1962 (AIR 1963 Mys 122)”On July 2, 1958, M.R. Khaleel and his brother A.R. Khaleel (doing business as M/s. A.R. Khaleel and Sons) filed an application with the Registrar of Trade Marks to have the phrase “Speedmaster” registered as a trademark that would be used in connection with the sale of their watches, clocks, and Alarm Time Pieces. The applicant was asked to explain why the registration of the mark should not be denied in a letter from the Registrar’s office dated 21 August 1958, on the grounds that the expression “Speed-master” appeared to have descriptive reference to chronometric instruments specially designed to measure time in relation to speed and was therefore not adapted to distinguish. After some correspondence, the applicant asked by a letter dated 3-10-1958 for a hearing before final orders were passed. In response to this letter, the Registrar directed the Ex-Officio Deputy Registrar of Trade Marks to give a hearing to the applicant. Consequently, the Ex-officio Deputy Registrar heard the applicant’s Advocate and after considering the arguments, refused the application for registration of “Speedmaster” as a trade mark.The main grounds for the refusal are (1) that the expression “Speedmaster” is not an invented word and (2) that this expression in relation to watches or clocks, is indicative of the use for which the goods were meant and also directly descriptive of the character or quality of the goods. The Deputy Registrar was also of the opinion that this expression “Speed-master” should be kept open to trade for use in order to boost up the sales of watches and clocks in the ordinary course of business. It is against the said order of refusal, which was made on 20-6-1959 by the Deputy Registrar, that the present appeal has been preferred by the applicant. Sri A.R. Srinivasa Rao, has appeared for the appellant and Sri D.M. Chandrasekhar for the Registrar of Trade Marks.H S Sahni vs Mukul Singhal & Anr on 10 November, 2022The parties have filed the present intra-court appeals impugning an order dated 02.09.2019 (hereafter ‘the impugned order’) passed by the learned Commercial Court in C.S. (COMM) no. 146/2019, whereby the application preferred by Mr. Mukul Singhal and M/s M.G. Cables (India)] [the appellants in FAO (COMM) 89-2021] under Order XXXIX Rules 1 and 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (hereafter ‘the CPC’) was partly allowed and the application filed by Mr H.S. Sahni / M/s M.K. Auto Sales Corporation’s [the appellant in FAO (COMM) 88-2021] under Order XXXIX Rule 4 of the CPC, was dismissed.2. By the impugned order, the learned Commercial Court restrained Mr. H.S. Sahni / M/s MK Auto Sales Corporation, its associates, agents etc. from using the trademark “M.G. Cable” and its artistic features and copyright vested in the trade dress and artwork of the label “M.G. Cable” but declined to grant injunction against use of the marks “M.G.” and “M.G.I” by M/s MK Auto Sales.3. The appellants in FAO(Comm) 89/2021 (hereafter referred to as ‘the Appellants’) assail the impugned order to the extent, their prayer for interim injunction restraining H.S. Sahni / M.K. Auto Sales Corporation (hereafter ‘H.S. Sahni’) from using the trademark “M.G” and “M.G.I” was denied.4. H.S. Sahni has filed the appeal [being FAO (COMM) 88-21], impugning the order restraining the use of the trademark “M.G. Cables” REFERENCEShttps://www.wipo.int/trademarks/en/https://selvams.com/kb/in/trademarks/trademark-classification-in-india/ https://legaldocs.co.in/blog/trademark-class-6 https://www.wipo.int/classifications/nice/en/ https://www.wipo.int/classifications/nice/nclpub/en/fr/?basic_numbers=show&class_number=6&explanatory_notes=show&lang=en&menulang=en&mode=flat¬ion=&pagination=no&version=20230101 https://www.ipindia.gov.in/writereaddata/Portal/IPOJournal/1_2599_1/CLASS_6_-_8.pdf https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1616678/ https://indiankanoon.org/doc/68733854/ |
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