International-Business-Dr-R-Chandran-E-book

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International Business- Dr. R. Chandran
action for ‘Passing Off or Unfair Competition’, against other parties who are
attempting to misrepresent themselves by using a similar trademark.
Most countries however provide a statutory registration procedure for
registration of trademarks and it is always advisable to register a trademark,
where possible, since infringement of a registered trademark is a strict
liability offence and is not dependent upon proving a reputation or any
misrepresentation. Furthermore, in certain circumstances, infringement of a
registered trademark can be a criminal offence and is punished accordingly.
A registered trademark is obtained by filling an application with the
Trade Marks Registry, which is then searched and examined. Once any
objections raised are overcome, the mark is advertised in order to allow any
interested party to object to the registration should they have grounds to do
so. Subject to no objection being raised, the mark is then entered into the
Register of trademarks. Once registered, a trademark can usually be kept in
force for as long as is required. Subject only to the payment of renewal fees.
Copyright
Copyright, as its name suggests, is a right to prevent copying of an original
artistic, musical, literary or dramatic work. Because copyright is only a right
to prevent copying of the original work, there is no absolute legal monopoly
and copyright cannot therefore be used to prevent the independent
production of an identical or similar work without any reference to the
original work.
From 1st January 1997, the copyright lasts for a period of 70 Years
from the death of the original author of the work.
Copyright is given on a national basis in the country in which the
original work created but may be enforceable internationally by virtue of the
Berne Convention or universal copyright convention.
In some countries, copyright can be used to prevent unauthorized
application of the original work to a manufactured article and thus similar
protection to that given by Unregistered Design right in the United Kingdom
is afforded. However, a notable exception to this is the United States of
America.
Confidentiality and Trade Secrets
There are laws that protect confidentiality of information. Companies or
individuals may wish to keep commercial or technical information
confidential. If this information is made public in breach of that confidence
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