Brand Yourself Wisely!
What exactly dragged the “Parle” giant to the Court? Not so long ago, many people kept wondering why the big name in business was held accountable in court.
“OREO” had sued “Parle” for infringing its trademark and challenged Parle’s new brand “FAB!O”.
Guess why? The design on “Fab!o” packing resembled Oreo’s packing! Even the photo of the biscuit used was very similar. Hence a case was filed by OREO in Delhi High Court against Parle alleging trademark infringement. Now this is something we should never overlook.
The competition in the market is very common among big brands, but the question is, if caught up in such a case can a startup survive the ordeal of litigations and resultant consequences?
The answer may be NO and it might sound like a dreaded nightmare for startups.
How can this kind of issues be avoided? How do we ensure that we do not infringe another’s Intellectual property? How do we ensure that our intellectual property is not infringed by another brand?
The solution resides in the stage before we decide our brand name, logo, packaging, slogan etc.
Many a time it is seen that entrepreneurs search google or any domain selling sites and make decisions on their brand name just from the information they gather from there. But is this enough?
NO! Instead, an entrepreneur should be looking at the Trademark registry data before finalizing on his name or brand, to ensure that there is not similar brand existing in the same class or in any protected or popular category.
What are the consequences of being part of an Intellectual property litigation?
The First hit will be on the good will of our brand. The next strike will be on the cash flow and if we fail the litigation, we will be forced to change the brand name at the cost of marketing efforts we put in to promote and establish our brand. And this being a costly procedure, let us not get ourselves entangled in such unwanted circumstances. Follow proper procedures and feel free to seek advices from experts before you even fix on a name.
