Trademarks related to precious metals and jewellery: Empirical Assessment of Class 14 Trademarks in India

This study explores how the regulation of gold and precious metals serves as a foundation for modern trademark laws. The contemporary trademark systems trace their lineage within the use of hallmarking and production marks within guilds to ensure quality control and accountability. This study combines historical analysis with an empirical review of 4.1 million trademark applications filed in India between 2009 and 2022, focusing on Class 14, which includes jewellery, precious metals, and watches. This study identifies 47,683 trademark applications filed during 2009-2022, corresponding to Class 14. Part 1 of the report provides the context of the study and examines how classification systems were developed, and explains their ubiquity in modern trademark law. Part 2 introduces the project on empirical assessment of trademark laws and explains the methodology and timeline for creating the dataset for the present study. It also gives the necessary context and explains the trademark prosecution process in detail. Part 3 examines the trends and statistics that emerge from the authors’ dataset. It is primarily divided into three parts, which provide insights into general statistics, timelines for the prosecution process of Class 14 marks, and finally, the treatment of Class 14 marks during the examination process of the Trade Marks Registry. The findings are vital for stakeholders navigating trademark registration processes and underscore the need for providing bulk datasets to enable empirical research on trademark systems in India.