HR issues hold up trademark dispute cases
A s many as 126,102 trademark dispute cases are lying with the government due to shortage of manpower in the trade marks registry offices. That's not all. As many as 8,183 applications are missing.
The maximum number of pending cases is lying in the Delhi office, followed by Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. Most cases pertain to domain name dispute and intellectual property rights.
Since 2001-2002 the number of dispute applications filed has increased by 100 per cent. The Trade Marks Registry of India is suffering from severe manpower shortage. Of the 122 sanctioned posts, 71 are lying vacant and all pertain to the post of examiners and above, according to the ministry of commerce and industry. The government has asked recruitment agencies to urgently fill up the vacant posts.
| REGISTERING PROBLEMS The number of dispute files which are under opposition & pending | ||
| Branches of Trade Marks Registry | Number of opposition cases | Missing physical trademark files as on 28-Jul-11 |
| Delhi | 47,902 | 1,875 |
| Mumbai | 40,442 | 1,251 |
| Chennai | 17,640 | 4,688 |
| Ahmedabad | 10,304 | 82 |
| Kolkata | 9,814 | 287 |
| Total | 1,26,102 | |
“There is not enough manpower to look after cases which are complex and require expertise. We are concerned and looking into the matter,” an official from the Office of the Registrar of Trade Marks told Business Standard on condition of anonymity. Emailed questions to Chaitanya Prasad, Controller-General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks, went answered.
To mitigate problems and streamline the process of trademarks registration, the ministry of commerce and industry is also planning to introduce free search facilities and digitisation of records.