Trademark Registration

Who can all apply for a Trademark?

In context to the trademark rules and regulations in India, things like sound, logo, words, phrases, colours, images, symbols, initials, or a mixture of all these can be registered as a trademark.

Note In the case of NGOs and LLP companies the trademark has to be applied for registration in the name of the concerned business or a company.

Any person, pretending to be the proprietor of a trademark used or intended to be applied by him, may apply in writing in a prescribed manner for registration. The application must include the trademark, the goods or services, name and address of the candidate with power of attorney, the time of use of the mark. The application must be in English or Hindi. It must be registered at the appropriate office.

The applications can be submitted individually at the Front Office Counter of the particular office or can be sent by post. Advantages of Trademark Registration

Excellent Business Opportunity
A product or service being sold under a registered trademark assists in developing up trust, safety, quality, and goodwill in the minds of customers. It gives you a unique identity when linked to other sellers.

Legal Protection
A registered trademark owner has the legal right in case of infringement i.e. you doubt that your trademark has been copied by someone else, you sue them for copying your logo, brand, name, or slogan.

Get Unique Identity
Customers will recognize a singular product or service only with the brand name. Registering a trademark guarantees that competitors will not apply it and so it remains a company’s unique asset.

Global Filling of Trademark
A trademark that is registered and filed in India is permitted to be filed in other countries outside India as well. Moreover, foreigners can also get a trademark registered and filed in India.

Creation of Intangible Asset
The trademark can be a valuable asset, in case your brand builds a name and succeeds. Registering a trademark makes it an intangible asset that can be traded, franchised, distributed, or commercially contracted. This brings benefits to the company or the individual proprietor. A trademark is intellectual property for the organization.

Infringement Protection
The proprietor of a registered trademark will be able to have exclusive rights over the trademark. The same trademark can be applied by the owner for all the products/services that fall under the same classes. Having the exclusive rights on the product or services also permits the owner to stop any kind of illegal use of the trademarked thing

Applying the Registered Symbol
The company can use the registered symbol (®) once the trademark is filed. The logo is evidence of the fact that the trademark is already registered and cannot be applied by another individual or another company. In the case of illegal usage, the person who holds the trademark can decide to sue the other person

Differentiating Products
Trademarking assists the consumers to find out about the products quickly. They can differentiate among the various kinds of products as the products tend to create an identity for themselves.

Promotes Goods and Services
Registering a trademark constitutes the face of the company or the goods and services. This serves to differentiate and promote brand creation. Most of the companies get their identity by trademark so it pays a crucial role in promoting and enhancing the brand value.

Protect the Commercial Goodwill
A trademark’s registered owner has the power to build, secure, and protect the goodwill of his/her goods or services. The owner can stop other traders from using his trademark illegally. One can also sue the infringer for using the brand name and demand damages for any infringement

Advertising sales
The customers of a company attach the name of the brand to the feature of the product or service that they give. This form of the product is spread in the market and so, it helps to increase sales by bringing more and more customers towards the product.

Trademark Classes

There are 45 trademark classes and all the goods and services are categorised across these classes. You need to be very careful while picking the classes as it will determine the validity of your trademark for your business’ products/services. If your business operates across different goods/services that fall under different classes, you have to ensure that you apply for the trademark under all the applicable classes.

If you are operating within these trademark classes, the competition for a trademark might be higher. However, that shouldn’t matter as long as your mark is unique

Steps In Trademark Application

Step 1 : Trademark search (1 day)
We checks trademark availability or checks brand name availability on the behalf of clients to make sure that their desired name or design has not already been taken or isn’t too similar to an already existing trademark. Because being exclusive do matters. This ensures that there are no issues & there are minimal chances of an objection being raised in the future.

Step 2 : Create trademark application (1 day)
Once we ensure that your chosen name or design is available & exclusive, we send you an authorization letter which has to be duly signed by you and returned to us. These letters give our lawyers authority to file a trademark application on your behalf.

Step 3 : Trademark application submission (1 day)
Once we receive the authorization letter & provided that no information is incorrect or partial, our lawyers will file the trademark on your behalf, and you can immediately start using the ™ symbol. We will provide you with the TM application number. We file the trademark either at the central trademark department office or online. A trademark can be filed online only by a registered lawyer or agent.

Step 4: Trademark registration (1.5 years)
Once a trademark application is complete, your application will be verified by the trademark office. The government can also object if your name similar to some other trademark in the same class, or the name is deemed obscene and hurts religious sentiments.

In case no objection is raised, the trademark registrar will publish an advertisement in the trademarks journal. If no opposition is filed by any party within 4 months, the trademark should be registered within the next 6 months. During this period, we constantly provide you with updates regarding the status of your application. You will need to pay the additional fee in case of such objections.

Step 5: Hearing before Registrar
If the objection has been filed on your trademark and the opposition doesn’t agree with your response, then hearing is held before the registrar. We appoint lawyers (charges extra) to take up your case in front of the registrar.

Documents needed for Trademark Registration

Before preparation of the documents it’s important to get an authorization letter that is appropriately signed by you, which enables us to file for trademark registration on behalf of you. After getting the authorization letter, we begin preparing the documents which are required to apply online. Soon, you receive the approval of the application, and you will gain the right to use the ™ symbol. While filing for the trademark registration, the documents you are required to provide are as follows:

Trademark Objected

If a Trademark is registered and the status is shown as “Objected”, then this indicates that the authority has received 1or more objections on the trademark, this can be because of duplication of an existing registered trademark or else the trademark is offensive and there can be various other reasons in the case of a trademark objection. The objection is raised under section 9 and section 11. In Section 9 the objections are made if the authority determines the trademark to be descriptive of goods. To overcome such objection, you are required to give proper evidence and prove the uniqueness of your Trademark.

In Section 11, the objections are made by the authority when they see the same trademark which means such a trademark already exists for similar goods, services, or products. When there is an objection, then the candidate required to make sure that he/she gives appropriate documents within the provided time, this will help you to overcome the objection.

Trademark Renewal

Just applying for a trademark registration won’t work for the long-term. The trademark remains valid just for 10 years after that one needs to file for Trademark Renewal.

Trademark renewal must be filed before the expiry of the trademark. The renewal application form must be filed before the deadline to have the seamless protection of the trademark without any chances of litigation

Renewal Process and Forms

Validity of a registered trademark

Once a trademark application is registered in the Trademark office or online, then the candidate can begin applying the TM symbol on products or the services, and if the trademark is registered then the candidate specifies the ® symbol over his trademark. All registered trademarks are valid for 10 years from the date of registration.

At the end of the validity of a trademark, a trademark can be renewed simply by giving the Government fee for registration within 6 months via “Form TM-12”, from the date of expiry of the trademark.

An expired trademark can be renewed through Form TM-13 (Restoration & Renewal) after 6 months and within 1year from the expiration of the last registration of the trademark.