Can Religious Symbols Be Registered As Trademarks?

Dec 2022

Are you planning to register religious symbols as trademarks? Well, you should research thoroughly to understand the use of religious symbols as trademarks. You have to consider the sentiments of people before you plan to use regions symbol for your business. India being a secular country encourages different citizen follows different religions, practicing it and yet maintaining complete harmony.

People have great faith in the religion they follow and they are also the believer of rituals, customs, norms and beliefs. Owing to this, the religious symbols are a vital part of religion and people’s belief on it. It can be used as trademark under any cost as people are connected religiously and emotionally with the symbols. Due to these grounds, some trades wish to use it to catch attract of customers on emotional grounds. But can the religious symbol of trademark be registered?

Use of religious symbol as trademarks

As per the trademark act of 1999, section 9, trademark is thoroughly examined before it is registered for the business. The section clause indicates that the trademark cannot be registered as it contains such information or words that may hurt others’ sentiments or emotions. Therefore, the religious symbols are prohibited for any commercial use. It relates to people faith, religious belief, emotion and others that can harm the symbol. Therefore, it cannot be registered and there arises a chance of refusal of such grounds. As the symbols are common, it tends to create confusion among consumers. Also, if one symbol has been registered only one owner can exercise exclusive rights while other opting for the symbol cannot use the rights.

As a result of this, there are different problems relating to the use of religious symbol as trademarks. One such instance is that as per Court, Krishna is name of a deity and it cannot be used for monopoly purpose. This is also the case with other symbols. The main idea behind this is to negate the use of a religious symbol for business purpose. This way, it gets involved in public domain and should not be available for commercial use.

Is religious sign of trademark accepted?

The registration of trademark is controversial and there should be necessary balance between the use of the trademark by the owner and its function. The main idea behind this is to offer protection to the goods and service that the company caters to. Religious signs are part of common use and there can be similarity in the use of marks that the brand owners opt for registration.

According to some law, it permits the religious or commercial organization to use any religious sign as a trademark. However, this type of trademarks registration is applicable as long it does not conflict any interest of others. A sign having secondary meaning may be of great use for trade purpose. So, when choosing religious symbol as trademark for business, you need to make the correct choice. If you register it, make sure that it does not hurt other’s sentiments.

Trending Blogs
Lack of Music Publishing Knowledge Robbing Indian Artists of their Rights
In India there has been a lack of knowledge regarding publishing music. It can be said that a large part of publishing an art for is still unexplored. It is not about the common people but the artists and the music companies are oblivious towards it. At the initial stage due to lack of knowledge […]
Read More
Blockchain Technology: Is it Building a Brighter Future
What is Blockchain Technology? The Blockchain is an incorruptible digital ledger of transactions that can be programmed to record virtually everything of value. So a blockchain is a continuously growing list of records called blocks, which are linked and secured. It protects the identities of the users. Although transactions on the blockchain are not completely […]
Read More
Intellectual Property and its Role in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Intellectual property rights are considered to be an important asset of any corporate unit. It is an indication of the creation of mind and the work that makes one entity different from the other. With better IP or intellectual rights, it would be easy to promote the possible innovations and this would be useful in […]
Read More
Pharma Companies File 15% of Patents in India
The Indian Pharma industry is primarily known for its Generic Drugs. But recently, to push its value higher in the market, the Indian pharmaceutical industry is investing more in research and development of new drugs along with increasing the potency of the existing ones to move up the value chain. From 2013-2015, out of the […]
Read More
Why Are Drug Patents Important Everything You Need to Know?
Before you ask for the importance of patent in the Pharmaceutical world, let us first learn about Patents. After a song is recorder, the song is approached by various music production companies who would like to rent the copyright of the song for marketing purpose and earn profit from it. And patent is almost similar, […]
Read More
3D Printing and IPR
The three-dimensional or 3D printing service is different from the traditional way of manufacturing. In the 3D process, objects are created layer wise to get the desired three dimensional impacts. Since the inception of this latest idea in 1980s, it has gone through several changes in the technology used. This requires use of different production […]
Read More
Need for Kashmiri Saffron to get the GI tag
The Kashmiri Saffron has been given geographical indication tag recently from Lieutenant Governor G C Murmu. The acquiring of GI tag is a step ahead in bringing the brand among the list of top ones. The tag has been given for the saffron grown in Kashmir. In this regard, it can be said that the […]
Read More
Copyrights of Music in India
Music is an art more specifically an intangible form of art. Copyrighting a song or a melody protects the basic right of the creator. The copyright also assist the creator financially. In order to ask for copyright the creator needs to file a registration. Once the creator gains the copyright, any infringement to the copyrighted […]
Read More
Why Is Protection of Geographical Indication or Designation of Origin Essential?
Having knowing regarding geographical indication along with designation of origin is something that is of great need these days. Geographical indication or GI indicates a symbol, name or sign relating to a product that corresponds to a definite geographical origin, product’s features, qualities that are due from the origin. To make a sign work as […]
Read More
Music Law 101: What Does Copyright Law Protect?
Music Law 101 is all about protecting different musical works along with sound recordings to its original creator. As copyright can be a confusing part, it is better to know what all it protects so that it becomes easy. It is known that each piece of recording has two types of copyrights. First, it protects […]
Read More
X
Download Firm Profile