Trademark Registration Process in India
A registered trademark provides legal and exclusive rights for use of the mark to its owner. A trademark can be registered for a name, symbol, figure, letter, device. A trademark is registered as per the procedure prescribed in the trademark act 1999 which are as follows:
- Trademark Search
The first and foremost step before filing a trademark application is to do a trademark search on the IP India databases. The trademark search will help you in knowing whether a similar or identical mark has already been filled under the same class or under different classes.
A trademark search can be conducted by visiting the IP India website as www.ipindia.nic.in. For advance search and opinion on your desired trademark, you can avail service of common law search provided by BrandProCare www.brandprocare.com.
- Trademark Filing
After thorough search and confirmation of the availability of the desired trademark, the application for the trademark registration can be filled with the Trademark Registrar with the aid of Trademark Attorney. In a trademark registration application, it is mandatory to contain following information.
- Desired Trademark which can be in the form of word mark, logo, symbol, etc.
- Details of the applicant such as Name, Address, Organizations name (if applying accordingly).
- The trademark class of the desired mark.
- Date of use of the mark.
- Description of goods and services under desired mark.
Thereafter a trademark application can be filed at one of the five Trademark Registrar Office having jurisdiction over the state. The applications can also be filled online. The territorial jurisdiction of TMR offices for the states is given below.
Mumbai: The State of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Goa.
Ahmedabad: The State of Gujarat and Rajasthan and Union Territories of Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
Kolkata: The State of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura, Jharkhand and Union Territories of Nagaland, Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
New Delhi: The state of Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Union Territories of Chandigarh.
Chennai: The state of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Union Territories of Pondicherry and Lakshadweep Island.
3. Trademark Application Allotment Number
A trademark application allotment number is generated within one or two working days after filling the trademark application with the Trademark registrar. The owner of the trademark can affix the TM symbol next to desired mark.
4. Vienna Convention codification
The trademark application is then applied with Vienna codification under Vienna Agreement (1973). It is an international classification of figurative elements of marks. The Registrar of trademark will apply the Vienna Classification to the trademark based on the figurative elements of marks. The status of the application during the aforesaid process is ‘Sent for Vienna Codification’.
5. Trademark Examination Report
Once the Vienna codification process is complete the application is allocated to trademark officer. The trademark officer will then scrutinize and exercise his powers to accept the trademark application to be published in Journal or object the trademark registration application. It may take a period of 6-8 months.
If a trademark gets objected the trademark officer will ask the applicant of the trademark to file a reply within 30 days from date of examination report. If the trademark officer is satisfied with the reason for justification of the trademark, the same will be allowed to publish in a trademark Journal.
In case, the trademark officer is not satisfied with the reasons for justifications of the trademark he will reject the trademark application. Therefore, the applicant has the rights to appeal for the decision of trademark officer before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board within a prescribed time of refusal.
6. Trademark Journal Publication
The proposed trademark is then published in a Trademark Journal, once the application is accepted by the registrar. A trademark Journal is published by the IP India authority to advertise and aware the general public of all the trademarks accepted by Trademark registrar and in the process of being registered.
The registrar of trademarks provides general public a period of 90 days for filling an opposition against the marks advertised in a Journal. If there are no opposition filed within 90 days of that publication, the mark will typically be registered within 12 weeks – months’ time.
If an opposition is filled by any individual or a party within a prescribed period of 90 days. The applicant of the trademark has to file a response on the opposition filed by the third party within two months from date of opposition. If the applicant of the trademark fails to reply on the opposition filed it leads to cancellation of trademark application. The judgement on the mark is communicated to the applicant. If the applicant is not satisfied he can appeal to the IP tribunal.
7. Trademark Registration
If no objections or opposition for the desired trademark arises, a manuscript of the trademark registration will be prepared. Once the trademark registration certificate is issued, the trademark is considered to be a registered trademark of the owner. The symbol ® can be affixed on to registered trademark.
This article has been authored by Ankur Kochhar
