Rectification Under The Trademarks Act And Associated Issues: A Detailed Analysis
- IJLLR Journal
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Soumya Singh & Dr. Meenu Gupta, Amity University
ABSTRACT
The study traces the trajectory of concept of rectification from the 1940 Act, to the 1958 Act, which emerged as a post-independence milestone, and finally to the 1999 Act, which reshaped the trademark jurisprudence in India. A nuanced calibration was represented by the 2021 legislative modification in the trademark legislation when the Intellectual Property Appellate Board was abolished through the enactment of the Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021. The powers that were given to the IPAB were transferred back to the High Court. However, the judicial conundrum with respect to the jurisdiction of the rectification petition arose as no specific definition of ‘High Court’ has been provided in the legislation. The scheme of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 is that it is a self-contained code; thus the infringement remedies and registration remedies must be read as a whole in determining the jurisdiction. The overlap of the Section 134 with Section 57 of the TM Act, 1999 where the convenience of the Plaintiff has been kept into consideration, Section 57 keeps mum about the jurisdiction of the High Court. Legislatively, when the right to rectify has been provided to both the registrar and the High Court, the jurisdiction of the High Court over the “appropriate office” is presumed. Although the judiciary has also stressed the fact of dynamic jurisdiction where the effect of registration has been felt, which creates jurisdictional uncertainty
Further, the study also examines Section 124 which provides for the stay of the infringement proceedings to pursue the rectification petition if the validity of the mark has been challenged, which overlaps with the understanding of whether Section 57 is an independent right from that of Section 124. This gap has implications for realizing the legislative intent, thus present research is required on this aspect.
Keywords: Rectification, Jurisdiction, Trade mark registry, Registration, Infringement
