If you ever visit Bali, you’ll notice a flood of Polo Ralph Lauren stores...
All selling Polo apparel at almost 60% off the retail price...
And despite the on point branding of the stores, they’re all fake - not the original Polo Ralph Lauren...
And this is because in the late 1970s, an Indonesian man trademarked the brand name, colours and logo in Indonesia, much before the American company decided to enter into that market.
So all the stores can legally operate under the Ralph Lauren name and with the logo, but are not owned by the original American company we know of.
Plus, the original brand cannot sell its products in Indonesia.
And so that the same thing doesn’t happen with your brand anywhere around the world... you must take these steps while registering your trademark...
1/ After registration of your trademark at the Indian Trademark Office (ITO), within six months file for a global trademark that is valid in 130 countries through a WIPO application which happens from the ITO itself
In certain countries like China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Japan - also make a separate filing independent of the WIPO application - as these countries have a first-to-file method, which means if someone else files before you, they get the right even if you have been using the brand for longer
2/ To increase defensibility, also register variations of your trademark in other languages such as Chinese, Arabic - as well as trademark common misspellings of your name
3/ Consider getting a trademark not just in the same category in which you currently operate, but allied categories where you may operate in the future as well - for example, an apparel brand may want to enter bags, shoes, or even cosmetics, watches and sunglasses later.
These days, even as small D2C brands begin to sell online and start getting orders from NRIs outside of India - it becomes important to protect your brand not just in your country of origin, but even elsewhere.
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A Chartered Accountant with about 10 years of experience in areas of Tax Advisory, Startup Consulting, Fundraising, Audits, Deal Advisory, Business Modelling and contract CFO services.
Winner of the ISB Young Leader Award 2017 and the Best All Rounder, PGP Class of '17, Sarthak has also been published about in the leading financial newspapers such as The Financial Express as possibly the youngest Indian to have completed the courses of CA, CS and CMA along with a graduate degree in Financial & Investment Analysis from University of Delhi, all by the age of 23 years.
Sarthak Ahuja