How to Register a Trademark for Your Fashion Business

For a fashion brand trademark registration is extremely important as the consumers recognize the brand with the logo or the label. A trademark is an intellectual property, which might consist of a recognizable sign, label, design, expression which becomes synonymous with the brand.

For example, when one sees the logo of Nike, Adidas, Jockey or any other popular brand, even if the brand name is not given, they can identify it. A logo or label goes a long way in creating the brand image, and it is very important to safeguard it by registering the trademark so that no one else can use it.

The procedure for trademark registration:

1. Appointing a legal partner:

A fashion house can take the help of a legal entity like Legalraasta or Vakilsearch and get the trademark registered. A trademark can be a visual symbol that can be a design, word, logo, name, numbers, tagline/slogan, label, one-liner, sound mark, colour combination, scent mark etc. Any brand has the right to protect its brand image by registering it. A trademark is used by businesses to distinguish its services or products from its competitors.

Trademarks are registered under the Trademark Act, 1999, which gives the trademark owner a lot of rights and privileges. The trademark owner can file a lawsuit against someone infringing upon his trademark and the court of law will decide on the losses and damages caused to the business due to the trademark infringement.

There are 45 trademark classes, of which the class 25 is meant for the clothing industry. The legal entities search in the trademark database to ensure some other business entity is not using a similar trademark.

2. Class selection and document collection:

Once the database search is completed and the experts are convinced that the fashion business’s trademark is unique; they will ask them to upload all their documents (applicant’s name, business type, business objectives, brand/logo/slogan, registration address, signed form 48, identification proof of the signatory, address proof of the signatory, business proof, udyog Aadhar/MSME registration certificate) pertaining to the business. The trademark registration legal team will verify the documents and will proceed towards filing for trademark registration. 

These legal entities can enable all trademark registration. They can guide the fashion business owner with the class that is relevant to the business.

3. Trademark application filing:

The legal entity appointed by the fashion business owner will then proceed to filing the trademark application on behalf of the business, and will keep the business owner updated about the progress. Once it is approved, the fashion business owner can start using the symbol ™. 

Trademark registration is important for the brand image of any business. It gives the feeling to the consumers that the fashion house is serious about their business and they are there to stay for a long time.

4. Trademark objection or opposition:

Trademarks in India are listed by the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India. Sometimes the examiner might come up with some questions. The fashion house will have 30 days to respond and if they have engaged a legal entity to do the work, they will draft a strong objection response.

Advantages of Trademark Registration

1.     Excellent business opportunity:

A product or service which is being sold under a registered trademark goes a long way in the minds of customers in developing trust, belief, safety, security, quality assurance, and goodwill.

2. Legal protection:

If the owner of the fashion business finds someone else using his/her trademark, they can go to the court of law and sue the company involved. Many times, lesser known brands copy a well-known brand’s logo, brand name or tagline to fool the consumers. The consumers think that they are buying the product of a reputed brand, but that’s not the truth. If the plaintiff wins the case, then the defendant often has to pay a large sum of money to them.

3. Global filing of trademark:

If the fashion house has plans of going global in future, trademark registration will be a great idea. The fashion business later can apply for global trademark registration and that will increase the faith of the importers on the fashion brand.

4. Advertising and marketing-

Once the trademark registration process is completed, the fashion brand can use it in all its sales and marketing campaigns. This will increase the goodwill of the brand and more consumers will be interested in buying the apparels from a brand which has completed its trademark registration.

5. Protecting the commercial goodwill-

After a few years of trademark registration, when the consumers recognize the brand with its logo or slogan, the fashion house owner will understand the importance of it. It goes a long way in creating the goodwill and trust in the minds of the users if trademark registration is done.

6. Promoting the brand-

Trademark registration constitutes the face of the company and it is the initial point of creating a brand value for the fashion house. It helps a lot in promoting and enhancing the brand value of the clothing lines manufactured by the brand. 

Some brands even go for trademark registration for their various lines of creations. Under the main umbrella of the main logo, there are other sub-logos created for their various collections. Over the years, the customers identify with the different logos and treat them accordingly. For example, Tanishq, a reputed jewelry maker in India (from the Tata Group) came up with a jewelry line of 14K gold by the name of Mia collection. Both the brands have their separate logos and unique selling points. On one hand the customers can trust the brand Tanishq, at the same time they know that they are going for 14K gold if they are buying jewelry from the Mia collection.

Conclusion

The way trademark registration is important for a fashion business, it is important to have a good sourcing partner too. Fashinza is a trusted partner which will help you to source the right kind of fabrics and accessories for your fashion house. Fashinza will connect you to the best manufacturers in the industry who are into ethical practices. You need not worry about anything as we will help the clothing brands to manufacture their collections by connecting them with the right kind of suppliers.