Brand Wagon

Bengali cuisine restaurant,6 Ballygunge Place,has registered a trademark for itself as its address: the house number and the name of the street.

“This trademark gives exclusive rights and a distinctiveness to the restaurant. In other words,it becomes the business identity and other branches can use its brand equity even though their address would not actually be ‘6,Ballygunge Place.’ We faced opposition initially from the Trademark Registration Authority because the address was too generic for a trademark. But the popularity of the brand and its equity granted it the trademark,” says Biswajit Sirkar,IP Attorney General,who looked after the legalities to acquire the trademark.

The restaurant has another branch in Kolkata in Salt Lake,which was commissioned in 2009. Currently,it is scouting for a location for a third branch in North Kolkata. The brand also plans to go international,aiming to start branches in London,New York and France by 2013.