UCLA Pacific Basin Law Journal

Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh were all established on a sense of wanting to be a majority in a nation where they were once “othered,” be it by the British, Hindu majority, or Urdu-speaking majority. As a result, religious independence and mother-tongue/linguistic independence are highly valued in these countries, and are the context by which the morality of trademarks within the borders of these countries are assessed. Notions of free speech traditions and political ideologies that also color traditions are discussed, as they also run abreast trademark law. Although these three countries once emerged from one land, they carry differences as distinct and rich as the cultural and religious historical tensions that define them. Each sought to create a space where their cultural and religious identities were represented fairly. As thus, it is no surprise that religion is such an important consideration that it was codified into each country’s trademark law.

This paper aims to illustrate what each country deems as running afoul to notions of morality and religious susceptibilities, and how that may have changed over time with politics and other social factors. The factors that may have influenced these definitions is assessed in depth by country, with homage to the political structures and free speech traditions within which they are nested. A framework of what would and what wouldn’t qualify as a registrable trademark under the morality bar is posited through an analysis of government guidelines on registering trademarks, case law, and a comparative analysis of certain marks that were treated one way under one country’s standard but could be treated differently under different standards from other countries.