Trademark Infringement
Trademark infringement is a violation of exclusive rights attaching to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensee. Mostly, Trademark infringement occurs when a person uses a trademark which may be either a symbol or a design, with resembles to the products owned by the other party. The trademark owner may start a legal proceeding against a party, which infringes its registration.
Two types of remedies are available to the owner of a trademark for unauthorized use of its imitation by a third party. These remedies are: - an action for infringement in case of a registered trademark and an action of passing off in the case of an unregistered trademark. An action for passing off and an infringement action are quite different from each other, an infringement action is a statutory remedy and an action for passing off is a common law remedy. Accordingly, in order to establish infringement with regard to a registered trademark, it is compulsory only to establish that the infringing mark is deceivingly similar to the registered mark and no further proof is required. In the case of a passing off action, proving that the trademarks are deceptively similar alone is not sufficient. The use of the trademark should be likely to deceive confusion. Further, in a passing off action it is necessary to prove that the use of the trademark by the defendant is likely to cause injury to the plaintiff's goodwill, whereas in an infringement suit, the use of the mark by the defendant need not cause any injury to the plaintiff. Trademark infringement laws assist the trademark holders to keep awareness about infringement of trademark.
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Trademark Infringement Law
Two types of remedies are available to the owner of a trademark for unauthorized use of its imitation by a third party. These remedies are: - an action for infringement in case of a registered trademark and an action of passing off in the case of an unregistered trademark. An action for passing off and an infringement action are quite different from each other, an infringement action is a statutory remedy and an action for passing off is a common law remedy. Accordingly, in order to establish infringement with regard to a registered trademark, it is compulsory only to establish that the infringing mark is deceivingly similar to the registered mark and no further proof is required. In the case of a passing off action, proving that the trademarks are deceptively similar alone is not sufficient. The use of the trademark should be likely to deceive confusion. Further, in a passing off action it is necessary to prove that the use of the trademark by the defendant is likely to cause injury to the plaintiff's goodwill, whereas in an infringement suit, the use of the mark by the defendant need not cause any injury to the plaintiff. Trademark infringement laws assist the trademark holders to keep awareness about infringement of trademark.
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