Doctrine of dilution of trade marks in India a comparative study with United States of America

Abstract

Trademarks are as ancient as history itself. Trademarks are one of the most valuable intellectual properties because ordinary citizens explicitly identify and work with these trademarks in their day-to-day lives, without even understanding the truth of how important these trademarks are. The first nation that ultimately germinated the idea of dilution in the picture was the United States of America. The project paper targets on the germination of the trademark dilution doctrine in India. Trademarks are of considerable value, which is why they are more vulnerable to violation or misuse. Maintaining the distinctive character of a trade mark is of critical importance. The definition of false resemblance has been generally accepted as a basis for infringement of the trade mark. The dilution of a trade mark happens when a third party uses a trade mark or trade name which is very similar to a well-known trade mark, causing the owner of a well-known trade mark to be entitled to prohibit any person from using the trade mark in such a way as to weaken its uniqueness. The article mediates a scholarly debate on cases in India where the judiciary has actively reviewed and interpreted cases before and after the Trademarks Act, 1999 and given clarification on the same subject. The main purpose of section 29(4) is to provide much wider protection from the infringement of trademarks without any need of likelihood of confusion. In landmark cases, the theory of probability of misunderstanding, goodwill, well-known and reputed trademarks are important fields that researcher analyzed. The paper discusses the dilution controversy, which shows that there is no direct connection to the word dilution in India, although touched the concept in section 29(4) of Trademark act, 1999. India did not use the expression dilution anywhere in statute whereas The USA framed TDRA, a separate statute dealing which deals with two types of dilution; first is dilution by blurring and second is dilution by tarnishment.