For a trademark to qualify as well known, the claimant is required to establish that the mark enjoys high reputation among a substantial segment of consumers, with respect to the goods and services to which the mark is applied. Two terms central to this inquiry \u2014 “substantial segment of consumers” and “relevant public” \u2014 have been the subject of judicial interpretation across jurisdictions.<\/p>\n
No hard and fast rule determines what constitutes a substantial segment of consumers. Analysis of case law from various jurisdictions indicates that, to be considered well known, a mark should be known among 75 to 90 per cent of the relevant public.<\/p>\n
The Chancery Division in British Sons Vs James Robert<\/em> \u2013 1996 (RPC) 281 (page 305-306), while examining the issue of acquired distinctiveness of the descriptive trademark “TREAT”, held that mere extensive use is not sufficient. The court observed:<\/p>\n It must be shown that the mark has really become accepted by a substantial majority of persons as a trademark and has become a household word. Even if 60% of the purchasing public recognize the word as a trade mark, that is not sufficient. Such recognition must be amongst at least 90% of the purchasing segment of public. The Applicant has miserably failed to produce on record any such evidence.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The European Court of Justice in the BOTOX Case (Joined cases T-345\/08 and T-357\/08) confirmed that:<\/p>\n “…the size of the market share of BOTOX in the United Kingdom, 74.3% in 2003, like the degree of awareness of the trademark of 75% among the specialized public accustomed to pharmaceutical treatments against wrinkles, is sufficient to substantiate the existence of a considerable degree of recognition on the market.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n An entity claiming well-known status should therefore prove that its mark is known among more than 70 per cent of the relevant public, supported by cogent and indisputable evidence including sales turnovers, sales invoices, advertisement and promotional expenditure, promotional activities, and the range of business circles in which the products under the mark actually circulate.<\/p>\n The term “relevant public” does not require that the public at large be aware of the mark. The claimant must prove that the mark is known among the consumers and business circles dealing in the goods and services to which the mark is applied. For instance, for a mark such as HEDGE to claim well-known status among security investors, it is not required that the mark be known to the general public. The claimant must instead demonstrate that the mark enjoys a renowned reputation specifically among investment bankers.<\/p>\n This distinction has practical significance: a niche industrial or professional mark may qualify as well known even without broad consumer recognition, provided its reputation within the relevant trade sector meets the requisite threshold.<\/p>\n This article is for general information and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult a qualified attorney before acting on any matter discussed here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The post analyses the legal benchmarks for establishing a trademark as well known, emphasizing the necessity of recognition among a substantial segment of relevant consumers. It discusses case law and evidentiary standards required to demonstrate such reputation in Indian trademark law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":37,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,11],"tags":[12808,6862,6529,6860,6858,6335,12807,102],"class_list":["post-13624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-intellectual-property","category-trademarks","tag-botox-trademark-case","tag-case-law-analysis","tag-legal-interpretation","tag-relevant-public","tag-substantial-segment-of-consumers","tag-trademark-law-india","tag-trademark-reputation-evidence","tag-well-known-trademark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13624"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149705,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13624\/revisions\/149705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bananaip.com\/intellepedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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The Concept of “Relevant Public”<\/h2>\n
Disclaimer<\/h2>\n