LLM Group 3 Law of Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law of Trademarks Feb 2026 - ATKT Question Paper with Solutions

Why trademarks need treaties

A trademark registration is territorial. A mark registered in India gives rights in India alone. A business that sells in many countries would otherwise need a separate filing, under different rules, in each, and could lose its mark abroad to someone who filed there first. The treaties do three things: they make each country treat foreigners as it treats its own nationals, they set minimum standards so that the protection is broadly the same everywhere, and they simplify filing.

The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, 1883

The foundation of the whole system. It covers patents, designs and marks, and its trademark rules are still the base on which later treaties build.

1. National treatment, Article 2. Nationals of any country of the Union enjoy in every other country the same protection as that country's own nationals.

4. Well-known marks, Article 6bis. The countries of the Union undertake to refuse or cancel the registration, and to prohibit the use, of a mark "which constitutes a reproduction, an imitation, or a translation, liable to create confusion, of a mark considered by the competent authority of the country of registration or use to be well known in that country", used for identical or similar goods. Article 6bis(2) allows at least five years from registration to seek cancellation, and Article 6bis(3) sets no time limit against a mark registered or used in bad faith.
5. Acceptance "as is", Article 6quinquies. A mark duly registered in its country of origin must, with stated exceptions, be accepted for filing and protected in the other countries of the Union.

In Indian law. Section 154 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 provides for applications from citizens of convention countries, giving them the priority date of their home application.

The TRIPS Agreement, 1994

TRIPS turned the Paris standards into binding minimums backed by the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement. Its Part II, Section 2, Articles 15 to 21, deals with trademarks.

• Article 18: each registration and renewal "for a term of no less than seven years", "renewable indefinitely".
• Article 19(1): a registration may be cancelled for non-use only after "an uninterrupted period of at least three years of non-use", unless valid reasons are shown; Article 19(2): use by another under the owner's control counts as the owner's use.
• Article 21: compulsory licensing of trademarks is not permitted, and the owner may assign the mark with or without the business.

In Indian law. The Trade Marks Act, 1999, which replaced the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act, 1958, was written to meet TRIPS. Its definition of "trade mark" in section 2(1)(zb) covers "a mark capable of being represented graphically and which is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of others", which follows Article 15. It protects services, which the 1958 Act did not. Section 29(3) presumes confusion where an identical mark is used for identical goods or services, which is Article 16(1). Sections 11(2) and 29(4) protect a mark with a reputation or a well-known mark even against dissimilar goods, which is Article 16(3). And section 48(2) treats use by a registered user as the proprietor's use, which is Article 19(2).

The classification and procedure treaties

The Nice Agreement sets an international classification of goods and services, in which every application is made by class. Rule 20 of the Trade Marks Rules, 2017 requires goods and services to be classified in accordance with the "International Classification of goods and services (NICE classification)" published by WIPO. The Vienna Agreement classifies the figurative elements of marks, which makes searching device marks possible. The Trademark Law Treaty, 1994 and the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, 2006 simplify and harmonise office procedure, such as the contents of an application and the recording of changes.

How far a foreign reputation reaches India

N.R. Dongre v. Whirlpool Corporation, (1996) 5 SCC 714. Whirlpool had let its Indian registration lapse, and the defendants registered WHIRLPOOL for washing machines here. Whirlpool relied on its worldwide use, on sales to United States embassy staff in India and on advertisements in international magazines circulating in India. The Supreme Court upheld an interim injunction in passing off, holding that reputation may travel across borders without the goods. Why it matters here: it is the Indian expression of the idea behind Paris Article 6bis.

Where they stop. First, protection stays territorial, as Toyota shows; the treaties harmonise rules but do not create a world trademark. Second, the standards are minimums, so countries still differ on matters such as non-traditional marks; TRIPS allows a country to require that signs be visually perceptible, which is why India's definition requires graphical representation. Third, a Madrid registration depends for five years on the basic mark at home, so an attack on the home mark can bring down the international registration with it. And fourth, the treaties protect brands strongly, and critics say developing countries bear the cost of enforcement while the benefit goes mainly to owners of global brands.

Conclusion

Conclusion. Because a trademark is territorial, treaties give it international reach. The Paris Convention supplies national treatment, a six-month priority and protection for well-known marks under Article 6bis; TRIPS, in Articles 15 to 21, turns these into binding minimums on subject matter, rights, a term of at least seven years, use, and assignment; the Madrid Protocol, which India joined through sections 36A to 36G with effect from 8 July 2013, gives one application for many countries; and the Nice and Vienna classifications and the procedure treaties make the system workable.