Absolute grounds

Suppose a shop in Dadar wants to register the word Sweet as its trade mark for sweets. Every other mithai seller uses that word every day, so giving one shop the exclusive right would wipe out everyone else's ordinary vocabulary. The Registrar can refuse it without any rival even objecting, because something about the mark itself is wrong. Which defects of this kind does the Act recognise, and can the mark ever be rescued?

In two minutes

Section 9 lists the absolute grounds on which the Registrar must refuse a mark because of what the mark itself is, regardless of any earlier owner: lack of distinctive character, descriptive or customary marks, marks that deceive or offend, prohibited emblems, and certain shapes.

The rest of this chapter

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