 "Does PayTM's logo look similar to PayPal? PayPal thinks YES!")
With recent announcement of Demonetization, digital payment wallets have gained immense traction and among the likes of FreeCharge and MobiKwik, PayTM seems to be leading the market with a majority.
Interestingly, while Demonetization was announced on November 8th, 2016, PayPal opposed registration of PayTM’s trademark on November 18th, 2016.
More interestingly, PayTM’s trademark application was at final step of registration and was advertised on July 18th, 2016 for acceptance, which marked the beginning of statutory period of 4 months within which said trademark could be opposed. Hence, PayPal filed for trademark opposition on the very last day of expiry of said period, i.e. on November 18th, 2016.
In its complaint for trademark opposition, PayPal contends that its brand name has been registered and used globally since 1999.
Or is this a strategy by PayPal to hamper PayTM's efforts to cash in on demonetization with advertising blitz of Rs. 600 crore allocation, one has to wait and watch how each party fights this opposition.
In the notice for trademark opposition (full copy) filed with Indian trademark office, PayPal has opposed registration of PayTM’s trademark on numerous grounds, primarily stating that PayTM is deceptively and confusingly similar to PayPal and possesses similar color scheme, which is likely to cause confusion and deception among the consumers. The proceedings have been initiated on 18th November 2016 and further steps are presently awaited.
In future, these proceedings will go by the procedure or will be withdrawn after mutual settlement. Let’s see what happens.
In past, similar issues cropped up with Zomato (formerly named as Foodiebay), when eBay initiated trademark opposition proceedings against Foodiebay. Those proceedings never reached next step after initial phase, as Zomato rebranded itself within days of filing of trademark opposition by ebay.
Rahul Dev is a Patent Attorney & International Business Lawyer practicing Technology, Intellectual Property & Corporate Laws. He is reachable at info (at) techcorplegal (dot) com & @rdpatentlawyer on Twitter
The article first appeared as a LinkedIn post. You can read it here
The article first appeared as a LinkedIn post. You can read it here