{"id":29957,"date":"2020-03-28T10:34:10","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T05:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterslice.com\/learning\/?p=29957"},"modified":"2020-08-22T14:16:46","modified_gmt":"2020-08-22T08:46:46","slug":"trademark-as-an-asset-for-msme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterslice.com\/learning\/trademark-as-an-asset-for-msme\/","title":{"rendered":"Trademark as an Asset for MSME"},"content":{"rendered":"

With\nfierce competition in the global market<\/a>, novel thoughts and ideas have turned\nout to be an essential and significant asset for any business to succeed and\nprosper. These ideas are referred to as an intangible asset or an Intellectual property<\/a>.\nIt brings commercial value to a business by expression of creativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tangible and intangible assets play a critical role in the business to succeed. With various MSMEs<\/a><\/strong> (micro, small and medium enterprises) carrying their business across several industries by using different assets for their work, intellectual property<\/strong><\/a> like a trademark becomes vital.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government of India in recent times provided support to the MSME’s by ensuring various reliefs for MSME<\/strong>. With the recent “Make In India<\/a><\/strong>” initiative giving a promising outlook, it makes trademarks as the most important IP asset for MSME’s<\/strong> as they now stand a chance to make their mark more extensively and literally.  Let us try to understand how trademarks can work as an asset for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a Trademark?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Trademark is a kind of an intellectual property comprising of sign, design, symbol or word used to represent a business or its products<\/strong>. A trademark helps in distinguishing a brand or a company from other brands in a market. It allows the public to differentiate between two brands. <\/strong>Registration of a trademark gives the trademark owner the exclusive right to use the product or services for marketing and prevents someone else from using the same brand that has been registered earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME’s)?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The\nGovernment of India enacted the micro, small and medium enterprises development\nAct in 2006. Under this Act, the definition of MSME was defined as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A microenterprise<\/a> is an enterprise where investment doesn’t exceed Rs. 25 lakh in plant and machinery and where the investment in equipment doesn’t exceed Rs. 10 lakh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nsmall enterprise is an enterprise where investment is more than Rs. 25 lakh but\ndoesn’t exceed beyond Rs. 5 crore in plant and machinery and where the\ninvestment in equipment is more than Rs. 10 lakh but doesn’t exceed Rs. 2 crore.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A medium enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in plant and machinery is more than Rs. 5 crores but doesn’t exceed beyond Rs. 10 crores and where the investment in equipment is more than Rs. 2 crores but doesn’t exceed Rs. 5 crore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The connection between MSME and Trademark<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Today\nbrands have become more subjective and evolved convincingly.  The essential part of a brand comprises of\nimage, character, identity, reputation, etc. The name and logos are just a\nsmall sample of what a brand is. The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises brand\nthrough its image, character, identity etc. helps in easy identification and provides\ntheir business with a competitive advantage in the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trademark registration makes it possible to have the legal rights to stop others from using the same or deceptively similar brand name as the one that has been registered. Trademark plays an important role in defence mechanism to protect an MSME’s brand from loss of reputation to helping it to retain a good, trustworthy relationship with your existing consumers. A brand that has been trademarked has the ability to increase in value as an intangible asset to use as collateral to obtain financing from various financial institutions<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nmay not be possible to put a value on someone else’s emotions that they feel\nwith a brand, but the protection of the brand can be ensured by acknowledging\nthe legal rights that come with the trademark registration. The micro, small\nand medium enterprises must remember that the Trademark protects their owners\nfrom others using a duplicate or deceptively similar products or services.\nTherefore, it becomes very critical that customer-oriented Micro, Small and Medium\nEnterprises in different situations empowers the customers to identify their\nduplicates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With more than 28 million enterprises and about 60 million employees, MSME contributes for about 8% to the nation’s GDP<\/strong>, 45% to manufactured outputs and 40% to exports. It is apparent from the above statistics that the sector has grown to produce a variety of products from raw materials to finished good. It has also become a major supplier of goods having mass consumptions. MSME has shown its ability to survive and adapt to the recent changes in the economy and recession, through its flexibility and efficacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trademarks for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In India, the MSME’s rely on the common law of tort of passing off to protect the brand name, logo, design, symbol<\/a><\/strong> etc. that allows the customers to identify them in the market. This approach is basically the supreme Indian approach of taking ad hoc measures instead of sticking to an advance long term planning, and this is led by the cost-saving measures. Yet this sort of cost-saving measure may lead to an expensive proposition in future, especially in case of IPRs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nMSME’s should look at registering or must look to Trademark their brand names\nand logos as a cost-saving measure considering a potential infringement in the\nfuture and to ensure a reasonably better and affordable instrument of\nenforcement in the court of law. In case the Trademark is not registered, the\naggrieved party cannot institute an infringement suit in a court but can only\ninitiate a lawsuit under common law tort of passing off and proving the prior\nusage of the name to a court of law and then obtaining an injunction against\nthe infringer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A trademark registration certificate to the infringer can cut short such tedious enforcement process who most likely won’t contest a bona fide trademark registration certificate in the court of law. Further, a registered trademark allows the owner of the Trademark to institute infringement proceedings against the infringer. Apart from that, the trademark registration is inexpensive for MSME in India. The government has off late scrapped half the price of the trademark application fee for the registered MSME’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trademarks\nare a trade-able asset which means, like any other assets of MSME’s, the\ntrademarks can also be sold, licensed or purchased from other MSME or MNC as\nper the needs. It is also possible for a MSME to sell their entire business\nwhile still retaining control of their brand names, logos, design or symbol\nthat has been trademarked and then licence that Trademark further to several\nmanufacturers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See Our Recommendation :<\/b> Trademark Search in India: Complete Procedure<\/a><\/mark>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the documents required for MSME Trademark\nregistration?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The documents required for MSME trademark registration are:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Aadhar card of proprietor\/ partner\/ director<\/li>
  2. Pan card of proprietor\/ partner\/ director<\/li>
  3. MSME certificate <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    How to register a Trademark?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Trademark registration is the first step of establishing your own brand name<\/strong>. It gives numerous benefits to the trademark owner. It provides legal protection to the owner and gives a unique identity to the company or the brand. It can also act as an asset as the owner can sell or assign to another party. The following procedure is followed for trademark registration-<\/p>\n\n\n\n