As a first step, it is highly advisable to immediately send a legal notice if anybody is copying your brand name/brand design or logo as it is or with minor changes in such a manner the consumers/public will get confused between your and the opposite party's brand name or products.

A legal notice is a formal written communication or warning issued by the sender about his intention to initiate legal proceedings against the receiver. A legal notice, therefore, brings the sender's grievances to the recipient's knowledge and also gives the recipient a chance to rectify the wrong done before initiating any legal proceedings. Sending legal notice proves to be very time and cost-effective compared to filing a court case directly, as there are chances that the parties reach a settlement without a court case.

Yes, an owner of an unregistered brand name can also claim his rights over the said unregistered trademark under the common law and accordingly issue a legal notice to the person copying the brand name. However, you should register your trademark as having a trademark, which makes it easier to prove your claim, and certain legal rights are available only to registered brand owners under the Trademarks Act, 1999.

Yes, you can claim compensation & damages in your legal notice, including the expense incurred in sending the legal notice.

However, it is usually seen that the recipient of legal notice stops using the brand name but does not usually pay compensation.

Suppose the recipient of the legal notice does not stop using your brand name even after sending of legal notice, either by not replying to your legal notice or by refusing to stop using your brand name. In that case, you have the right to file a case before the competent court. The court's jurisdiction and the type of case that will be filed will depend upon whether your trademark is registered or not.

If your brand is not registered, you can file a case for passing off, which is a remedy under common law. If your brand is registered, you can file a case of infringement, a statutory remedy under the Trademark Act, 1999.

Passing-off means that someone is passing-off their goods and services as those belonging to another person.

To claim a remedy under the common law tort of passing off, you must prove that the other person's brand is similar to yours, which has confused the public, and that there is damage to your goodwill.

Infringement, as described under the Trademark Act, 1999, is a statutory remedy available to you as a registered trademark owner when someone is using a brand that is identical or similar to your brand concerning goods or services which are identical or similar to the goods or services you deal in and due to this there is a chance that the public might get confused.

Using someone else's trademark as a trading name also attracts similar legal consequences as applicable in the case of using someone else's trademark as a brand name. A suit for infringement or passing off, as the case may be, can be filed against such a person who uses someone else’s trademark as their brand name.

As an owner of an unregistered trademark, you can file a case for passing off of a trademark before the district court or high court having jurisdiction over the place where the person copying the brand resides or has the business or over the place where the cause of action arose.

As an owner of a registered trademark, you can file a case for brand infringement before the district court or high court having jurisdiction over the place where you reside or do business.

If the person copying your brand name has filed a trademark application with the trademark department for registration of an identical or similar trademark, then you can avail the following remedy by using the below-mentioned course of action:-

• Trademark is filed by the opposite party but not accepted by the department - In addition to sending a legal notice, file a rectification application with the trademark department. 
  
• Trademark is filed by the opposite party, as it's also accepted by the department - In addition to sending a legal notice, file an opposition application with the trademark department. However, this is possible only during the 4-month advertisement or public objection period
• Trademark is filed by the opposite party, and its also accepted by the department, but the 4-month advertisement period is over - In the legal notice, ask the opposite party to withdraw their trademark application and if not withdrawn by the opposite party, then post registration of the opposite party's application, file a rectification application.
• Trademark filed by the opposite party is registered- In addition to sending a legal notice, file a rectification application with the trademark department.
  

A trademark opposition is an application you can file for opposing or objecting to registering another person’s similar trademark, which the trademark registry has advertised.

During the 4-Month advertisement (also known as the public objection period), you can oppose the trademark application by filing TM-O and stop other persons from using a brand name identical or similar to yours for doing the same or similar business as yours.

A trademark rectification is an application you can file for getting another person’s similar trademark registration cancelled.

You can file a rectification application by filing form TM-O, get the other person's trademark registration cancelled, and stop the other person from using a brand name identical or similar to yours for doing the same or similar business as yours.

There can be a situation where someone else is using a trademark that is the same or similar to yours for goods and services which are entirely different from what you offer. In such cases, if your trademark has a considerable reputation in India and the opposite party is trying to take unfair advantage or cause harm to your brand name, you can send a legal notice. If the opposite party does not comply with the legal notice sent, you should file an infringement case.