Open Access Research Article

BEYOND THE VISUAL REGISTER: OLFACTORY TRADE MARKS IN INDIA AFTER SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES

Author(s):
PRANJAL VERMA ATUL WASNIK SAMYAK RAJ NEMA JEETENDRA RAWAT
Journal IJLRA
ISSN 2582-6433
Access Open Access
Volume 3
Issue 6
DOI https://www.doi-ds.org/doilink/09.2026-96874934/BEYOND THE VISUAL REGISTER: OLFACTORY TRADE MARKS
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Abstract

ABSTRACT
Trademark law has traditionally been organised around signs that can be seen, recorded and readily compared on a public register. The emergence of sensory branding, however, has challenged that visual architecture. Olfactory trademarks are particularly difficult because smell is perceptual, unstable, difficult to describe in words and historically resistant to objective representation. This paper examines the Indian position following the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks’ acceptance, for advertisement, of Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd.’s application No 5860303 for a ‘Floral Fragrance / Smell Reminiscent of Roses as Applied to Tyres’ on 21 November 2025. The paper treats the development as an important doctrinal event, but distinguishes acceptance for advertisement from final registration. It argues that the decision does not abolish the statutory requirement of graphical representation under section 2(1)(zb) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999. Instead, it can be understood as a technologically adaptive interpretation under which a sensory sign may be represented through a scientifically constructed graphical model capable of objective verification. The paper compares this approach with the pre and post-Sieckmann position in the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. It also analyses distinctiveness, functionality, public notice, opposition, enforcement and evidentiary difficulties. Particular attention is given to the seven-dimensional olfactory vector model developed with scientific assistance, and to the question whether scientific objectification genuinely solves the legal problem identified in Sieckmann or merely relocates it. The paper concludes that India should preserve the possibility of olfactory protection while adopting clear administrative standards for representation, distinctiveness, non-functionality, disclosure and infringement assessment. The Sumitomo development should therefore be regarded neither as an unrestricted recognition of smell marks nor as a departure from statutory text, but as an important experiment in moving Indian trade mark doctrine from visual formalism towards functionally defined, technology-neutral representation.

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Author Details

Authors: PRANJAL VERMA, ATUL WASNIK, SAMYAK RAJ NEMA & JEETENDRA RAWAT
Registration ID: 1013159 | Published Paper ID: IJLRA13159 , IJLRA13160, IJLRA13161 & IJLRA13162
Year: Sep-2026 | Volume: 3 | Issue: 6
Approved ISSN: 2582-6433 | Country: Delhi, India
Page No.: 825-858

Article Information

BEYOND THE VISUAL REGISTER: OLFACTORY TRADE MARKS IN INDIA AFTER SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES

Authors: PRANJAL VERMA, ATUL WASNIK, SAMYAK RAJ NEMA, JEETENDRA RAWAT

  • Journal IJLRA
  • ISSN 2582-6433
  • Volume 3
  • Issue 6
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International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis

  • AbbreviationIJLRA
  • ISSN2582-6433
  • AccessOpen Access
  • LicenseCC 4.0

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