IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THIRD PARTY MANUFACTURING: TRADEMARK REGISTRATION

Indian Pharmaceutical sector is the fastest growing sector in the country. It has been witnessing tremendous growth rate in recent time. Pharma Companies are facing stiff competition and their cost of marketing and branding is even increasing with each passing day. Therefore, due to the expansion of the market and huge investments involved, the trademark registration for any Pharma associate, who is planning to incorporate his own third party manufacturing company have become necessary. Trademark registration helps them to secure their brand identity from getting replicated by fraudulent pharma dealers.

WHAT IS TRADEMARK REGISTERATION??

Trademark is generally referred to as a brand name, logo, and symbol of a product or a company. Trademark registration is an intellectual property that provides the protection to the brand identity which a normal registration cannot do.  It ensures applicant registration of the brand name and logo of the company under government and restraints the rights to use it by any third party or any other person. These are the unique symbols, logo or brand name that distinguish your products and makes it unique.

If you are incorporating your own pharma third party manufacturing company , it is advisable to go for trademark registration for your brands.

Trademark is registered for a minimum period of 10 years and after that you can renew that again for 10 years.

WHY IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO GET YOUR PHARMA BRANDS REGISTERED…??

Apart from being unique, trademark registration provides following benefits to your third party manufacturing company:

1. Ownership Rights : When you have registered your trademark, you get the rights to “own” that trademark of your product or the company. It provides you the right to use that registered brand name in class of goods it is registered.
2. Right To Sell : With a registered trademark you get the right to sell your pharma products without any issues. As without a registered trademark you cannot sell your product freely in the market.
3. Balance Sheet: Trademark is recognised as an intangible asset for accounting purpose. It helps in recognising the business value and you can also claim deduction or depreciation on that.
4. Provides Legal Protection: Trademark registration provides legal protection and security to your brand from any kind of infringement. It saves you from any type of criminal offense.
5. Helps in Brand Recognition: It helps in brand recognition which further results in adding new customers while retaining the existing ones. As once an individual feels connected to one brand he’ll follow it for lifetime
6. Business Expansion: Trademark registration helps you in business valuation and business expansion. When you have incorporated your third party manufacturing company trademark registration can help you with business expansion.

PROCEDURE FOR TRADEMARK REGISTERATION

1. Trademark Search : The first and foremost step in trademark registration is to select and search a unique brand name and logo for the product. You can select a creative brand name for your product. You can then search your selected brand name on government trademark site and check if your selected name and logo is unique or not.
2. Selection of Trademark Class and Category : Trademark authorities has set a complete list divided into 45 different class and categories for trademark. The pharmaceutical products generally range in Class 5, except in few cases. You can check the class and category of your pharmaceutical product on trademark registration site.
3. Application Submission: It takes 3 working days to Trademark registration department to issue the application. After selecting the proper class of the product, you can fill the application on the Trademark registration portal and submit the same.
4. Process the Payment of Trademark Fee: Once the application is submitted, you can proceed with the payment of trademark fee that is generally around Rs.4500.
5. Receipt of Acknowledgement: After successful payment receipt, a reference number is generated which can be used to know the progress of the application till any further date is being provided.

The trademark authorities and the officer after receiving the application examine the application. After the examination is done, the officer informs the applicant regarding the acceptance or rejection of the application. Once approved, a trademark is registered for a period of minimum 10 years and after that its renewal can be done.

If the application is rejected because of some objections like the particular brand name or similar is already registered, it may take up to 2 years in resolving that.

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR TRADEMARK REGISTERATION

1. Authority Letter and Affidavit.
2. Power of Attorney signed by the authorized person.
3. Name and Address Proof of the Company (Ownership Documents).
4. Details of the company including Mobile Number and Email ID of the authorized person including the partners of the company, if any.
5. List of products and services for which the registration is required.
6. Certificate for start up registration if required.

A trademark is valid only in India and does not warrant any international status.

PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES

At the time of incorporation of business we all want to avoid any deviation. If you want to secure your trademark, free from any objection at the time of registration you should follow some precautionary measures:

1. Conduct a thorough search of the word or symbol that you decide.
2. Do not use descriptive words as trademark law does not allow to describe the nature of the product that gives direct reference of the product.

For Example : You cannot use “Hair Shine” as a brand name as it simply shows this product is for shiny hairs.

3. Do not use name of your geographic location with your brand name.
4. Do not make any clerical error.

The Indian Pharmaceutical industry has taken tremendous growth in past decades. Trademark Registration has played a vital role in writing the growth story of pharmaceutical industry. It is a vital step to proceed towards your own business in pharma third party manufacturing.

With few smart decisions, you can do trademark registration and incorporate your own third party manufacturing company. We hope this write-up has helped in gaining some exposure on the concepts of Trademark registration. For more such informational wirte-ups, stay connected with us.