Trademark Registration

Complete trademark registration.

A trade mark registration gives you the exclusive right to use a brand name, logo or tagline for the goods and services you registered it in, and the right to stop others using anything deceptively similar. It is filed per class under the 45-class Nice Classification, examined by the Registry, advertised for four months during which anyone may oppose it, and then registered for ten years and renewable indefinitely. Incorporating a company with a name protects none of this — the two registers are entirely separate.

Who this is for

Brand protection
18-24 months
Exclusive rights
10-year validity

The process

What we actually do

1
We search before we file
A search of the Trade Marks Registry, the company register and common-law use tells you whether the mark is available before the fee is spent. Filing without one is how a business discovers, eight months in, that a similar mark was registered in the same class three years ago.
2
We choose the classes that match what you sell
Each class is a separate application and a separate fee. Filing in classes you do not operate in wastes money and leaves the mark open to cancellation for non-use after five years; filing in too few leaves the actual business unprotected.
3
We file, with the startup or small-enterprise fee where it applies
The government fee is ₹4,500 per class online for an individual, startup or small enterprise, and ₹9,000 for everyone else. A Udyam registration is what evidences the lower rate, so it is worth having before filing.
4
We answer the examination report
Most applications draw an objection under section 9 or section 11, with thirty days to reply. A section 9 descriptiveness objection is answered with evidence of use — invoices, advertising, dated examples — rather than argument, and that distinction decides most of them.
5
We watch the advertisement and handle opposition
After examination the mark is advertised in the Trade Marks Journal, and anyone may oppose within four months. An opposition that goes unanswered abandons the application, so the Journal is monitored rather than assumed.

Who this is for

Any business whose name, logo or product brand is worth defending
Businesses selling on marketplaces, where a registration is what enforces a takedown of a copycat listing
Startups whose investors will ask what protects the brand at the first diligence
Businesses expanding into a new category, which needs its own class
Anyone who has received a cease-and-desist from a mark holder

How long it takes

Six to eighteen months to registration in a straightforward case, and longer where there is an opposition. The ™ symbol can be used from the day of filing; ® only after registration is granted.

If you do nothing

You keep whatever common-law rights your use has generated, which means enforcement by a passing-off action that requires proving reputation, misrepresentation and damage — expensive, slow and uncertain. Meanwhile someone else can register the mark, and a registered proprietor can stop you using your own brand. The businesses this happens to are almost always the ones who assumed the company name was enough.

The law, in figures

Dates, thresholds and sections

Every figure below carries the provision it comes from, so it can be checked.
What	Figure	Source
Classification	45 classes — 34 for goods, 11 for services	Fourth Schedule, Trade Marks Rules 2017
Government fee, individual, startup or small enterprise	₹4,500 per class, filed online	First Schedule, Trade Marks Rules 2017
Government fee, others	₹9,000 per class, filed online	First Schedule, Trade Marks Rules 2017
Time to reply to an examination report	30 days	Rule 33(1), Trade Marks Rules 2017
Opposition window	4 months from advertisement in the Journal	Section 21, Trade Marks Act 1999
Registration term	10 years, renewable indefinitely	Section 25, Trade Marks Act 1999
Non-use cancellation	After 5 years and 3 months of non-use	Section 47, Trade Marks Act 1999

What usually goes wrong

Assuming company incorporation or a domain registration protects the brand — neither confers trade mark rights
Filing without a search, and losing the fee and a year to a prior similar mark
Filing in the wrong class, which protects a category the business does not operate in
Using ® before registration is granted, which is an offence under section 107
Missing the thirty-day examination reply, which abandons the application
Filing defensively in many classes and losing them to non-use cancellation

What non-compliance costs

Improper use of ® is punishable under section 107, Trade Marks Act 1999
An abandoned application means refiling from the beginning, with the fee again
Without registration, enforcement rests on passing off, which requires proving reputation and is far harder
A mark unused for five years and three months is open to cancellation by anyone

These are statutory amounts, not our fees. What we charge depends on your situation and is quoted before any work starts.

Not to be confused with

These come up in the same conversation and are routinely treated as the same thing. They are not.

Company name approval

MCA name approval prevents another company registering the same name. It confers no rights over the brand and does not stop anyone using it as a trade mark.

Copyright

Copyright protects an original creative work — the artwork in a logo, for instance. A trade mark protects the use of a sign as a badge of origin for particular goods. A logo can carry both.

Domain name

A domain is a contract with a registrar. A registered mark can be enforced against a domain holder; a domain cannot be enforced against a mark holder.

Want to do it yourself?

The whole procedure, written out step by step. Nothing held back to force a call.

6 steps
How to register a trademark in India
Search, file and prosecute a trademark application through the IP India portal, from clearance search to registration certificate.
120 min

Terms you will come across

Trademark Class: A trademark class is one of the 45 categories of the Nice Classification, and a trademark is only protected in the classes it is registered in.

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