Infringement of Trade Mark affects comman man too: Shantaram Naik

Relevance of trade mark is not restricted to the owners of the trade mark but it is the common man who is most affected if a reputed trade mark is misused and spurious drugs and other consumer commodities are sold to the public, said Mr Shantaram Naik in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

Mr Naik who was initiation a discussion on behalf of Congress Party on the Trade Marks( Amendment) Bill, 2010 said that the authoriries under Consumer Protection Act should sou motto take cognizance of the misuse of trade marks in order to protect common consumer.

One can get any number of fans marked as Usha, Khaitan, Bajaj in the market. United Sindhi Association (U.S.A) are well known for manufacturing fake goods.

Mr Naik referring to the remarks made by U.S. Senator Mr Charles Schumer calling Infosys Technologies as Chop Shop, said when U.S was under economic recession we could have called America as banana republic, considering the situation prevailing there, but no one in India said so.

Mr Naik further said that if Infosys was a chop shop then, Union Carbide could be called a slaughter house.

Mr Naik explaining the provisions of the bill said that at present a person desirious of obtaining registration of his trade mark in other countries has to make separate applications in different languages and pay different fee .

The present bill will permit registration of trade mark by filing a single application in applicant's country which will then be transmitted to other 84 countries who have signed Madrid Protocol., he said.

Mr Naik said that a trade mark is a symbol of honour of a company,a family honour, a symbol of emotions and it can be valued and, it can, at the same time, be priceless too for some.

Mr Naik said that there are some "Well known Trade Marks" like Tatas, Bajaj,Maruti Suzuki,Mercedes Benz , Omega, Rolex in whose case the owners of the trade marks can sue others for infringement even if trade mark is not registered. Mr Naik said that Trade Mark litigations are increasing and quoted certain famous cases.