Vienna Codes For Image Search

Of the very intimidating process of registering one’s trademark, the first step is to have done a thorough and complete trademark search before registering. Searches must be done to ensure that there are no similar marks in the same class as the proposed mark with similar goods descriptions.

Trademarks can broadly be of two types: a word mark (single or multiple words) and a device such as a logo, label, or figurative mark.

But, the main problem arises when there is the question of a DEVICE, which may be an image, graphic label, pictorial element, or combination of the above; its contents and features used for illustrations may be of many types. A device may have only characters (seen in IBM or Mcdonald’s); it may represent simple shapes, colors, objects, animals, people, planets, or any other form of life and may even extend to imaginary characters – or any such combinations.

Thus, when conducting a trademark search for a logo or device mark, it will be highly impractical to look through every entry of the class of the proposed mark to find a similar mark.

This is achieved through the Vienna Code, short for INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE FIGURATIVE ELEMENTS OF MARKS – under the Vienna Agreement. The Vienna code classifies every element into 29 categories, meticulously classified, cataloged, and categorized as tabulated below.

Let us understand the importance of the Vienna code search using the below example:–

Mr.Suresh is a businessman who wants to sell sports shoes. Suresh wants his business to be successful, and when it does, he wants to buy a Jaguar car. Keeping this dream in mind, he wants his shoes to be named Panther and carry the “leaping panther” emblem, which is precisely the emblem of his dream car. Little does he know that PUMA, the shoe company, also has a leaping wild feline animal and has been using this for as long as 60 years.

Now for a prospective new shoe buyer, this poses a problem. When researching for his/her next shoe purchase, the existence of Suresh’s panther brand shoe, alongside the well-established Puma, will cause doubts even concerning both companies.

Even an honest mistake like this can harm the brand in the long run. And that is why Suresh searched for existing brand names in the Shoe category, which have a device of a leaping animal; this could have been avoided.

However, it is highly impractical to look through every single entry of the Shoe class of trademarks for a leaping animal. That is why elements of every mark are supposed to be classified under what it figuratively represents.

Coming back to Suresh’s story, a simple search using the Vienna Code of the Tiger/Feline animal [Category 3] can yield results with such elements, and appropriate choices can be made without infringing or looking similar to other existing logos.

Therefore, consulting a professional trademark agent can vastly refine the trademark search process and ensure thorough background research before proceeding with trademark registration.