The Register of Trade Marks

In one line

The register is a public record of every registered mark, kept at the head office, in electronic form, with no trusts on it.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: section 6(1) requires a record called the Register of Trade Marks to be kept at the head office of the Trade Marks Registry, in which shall be entered all registered trade marks with the names, addresses and description of the proprietors, notifications of assignment and transmissions, the names, addresses and descriptions of registered users, conditions, limitations and such other matter as may be prescribed; section 6(2) permits the record to be kept wholly or partly in computer floppies, diskettes or in any other electronic form subject to prescribed safeguards; section 6(4) forbids any notice of trust to be entered or received; and section 6(7) incorporates the Part A and Part B registers existing at the commencement of the Act.

Section 6 broken down

Sub-section (1), what the register is and what it contains. A record called the Register of Trade Marks, kept at the head office, containing:

• all registered trade marks;
• the names, addresses and description of the proprietors;
• notifications of assignment and transmissions;
• the names, addresses and descriptions of registered users;
• conditions and limitations; and
• such other matter relating to registered trade marks as may be prescribed.

Rule 53(2) supplies the "other matter", and chapter 330 sets it out: the date of filing and the actual date of registration, the goods or services and the classes, the address for service where the proprietor has no Indian place of business, his trade or occupation, particulars affecting the scope of the registration, any convention application date, whether the mark is a collective or certification mark, whether it was registered under section 11(4) with consent, and the appropriate office.

Sub-sections (2) and (3), the electronic register. It is lawful for the Registrar to keep the records wholly or partly in computer floppies diskettes or in any other electronic form, subject to prescribed safeguards, and any reference in the Act to an entry in the register is then construed as a reference to an entry maintained on computer or in any other electronic form. Rule 53(3) empowers the Registrar to formulate guidelines, in consultation with computer experts, for keeping official records in electronic form.

Sub-section (4), no trusts. No notice of any trust, express or implied or constructive, shall be entered in the register, and no such notice shall be receivable by the Registrar.

Why that rule exists. The register records legal title, so that a searcher knows who to deal with. Equities are left to the general law. The consequence is that a beneficiary under a trust of a mark has his remedies against the trustee, not an entry on the register; and a purchaser dealing with the registered proprietor is not affected by a trust he could not have discovered.