Adina Evangeline G, Kristu Jayanti College of Law
ABSTRACT
Today’s marketing world has come a long way from merely giving information about their product to celebrities jumping from helicopters to get a soft drink, having addictive pleasant music associated with their brand, creating visuals that leave an impact on the consumers mind to comparing different brands to show that their product stands out amongst it all. Representing a product in a style that lets the consumer make sensible purchasing choices due to the availability of more rational information and comprehensive of the brand is called as comparative advertisement. A paradigm shift has taken place from the Traditional advertisements to comparative advertisements. This has brought new issues like trademark infringement with it as it does not conform with the traditional advertisement. Through comparative advertisement one can show their product in a better light but at the same time they cannot degrade another’s product. Section 29 of the Trade Mark Act 1999 mentions the infringement of Marks, Trade mark is a distinguishing identity of a product or service that separates it from others in the colours, shapes or packaging used for the goods. This paper analyses the comparative advertisement and trade mark infringement and the laws regarding them in India, USA, UK, and EU.
Keywords: Comparative Advertisement, Trade mark, Infringement, Advertising, Consumer
