Does Aadhi really have trademark over the name “HIP HOP TAMIZHA”?

Trademark protection can be granted to marks which is used to signify that the goods or service in hand refers to a particular brand. In order to achieve this, the mark must be distinct enough and should have a secondary meaning to it.

The origin of the word 'hiphop' refers to a culture and an art movement from the Bronx, New York City. In a lay man's definition, it denotes a genre of music, that we all enjoy. Artists all over the world create music and rap in this genre and feel honored to be a part of the hiphop culture. The word has a meaning in itself and is too generic for someone to monopolize the word. Now what about the word 'Tamizha'? The terminology refers to any person from the clan that speaks the language 'Tamizh/Tamil'. It denotes an entire civilization and linguistic community in the south of India. This word too has its own meaning and identity and cannot be monopolized.

The words 'hiphop' and 'tamizha' can stand alone and are not dependent on each other. But when these words are put together, our mind, as a consumer of music and movies, totally reminds us of Adhithra Venkatapathy, (popularly known as 'Hiphop Tamizha') and R. Jeeva. The conjoining of these words, 'hiphop' and 'tamizha' might have acquired a secondary meaning to the word 'Hiphop Tamizha'. Granting trademark protection to the word 'Hiphop Tamizha' might have been impossible because hiphop and tamizha are too generic .and it refers to the name of an entire music market. It can also be argued that monopolizing of the name of a genre of music and a linguistic identity together for goods and services related to the Tamil music and movie industry cannot be granted because it becomes anti-competitive in nature since there are various other Tamizh hiphop artists as well.

So, is the name 'Hiphop Tamizha' protected under any law? Of course it is!

Hiphop Tamizha has been registered as a partnership firm under the Indian Partnership Act, 1932. Along with this, 'Hiphop Tamizha' was granted a device trademark protection under the Class 41.

The word 'Hiphop Tamizha' along with a vector art of eyes, moustache and red dot has been registered as a device mark in the Intellectual Property Office. Mr. R.V. Rangadhithya is the proprietor of the device trademark. The other trademark's ('Hiphop Tamizha Underground') proprietor is however the Hiphop Tamizha Partnership Firm.