A trademark is a sign that distinguishes your goods or services from someone else's, registered under the Trade Marks Act 1999 for ten years at a time and renewable indefinitely. In India you file online with IP India on Form TM-A, the Registry examines the mark, it is advertised in the Trade Marks Journal for four months of possible opposition, and if nothing stops it a registration certificate follows.
What it protects is narrower than most founders assume. Registration gives exclusivity over that mark, for the classes you registered it in, in India. It does not cover classes you did not file in, it does not travel abroad, and it does not stop somebody using a genuinely different name in a genuinely different trade. Rights are granted per class and per country, and almost every expensive trademark mistake traces back to forgetting one of those two limits.
An unregistered mark is not worthless. Passing off protects a name that has acquired reputation through use, and it is how brands without registrations win injunctions. It is simply harder, slower and more expensive to prove than producing a registration certificate.
Every Indian application passes through the same stages in the same order. What varies is how long the Registry takes at each one and whether an objection or opposition interrupts it. Read the table as a sequence, not as a promise of dates.
| Stage | What happens | Form or deadline | Typical timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Search | Check the register for identical and similar marks in the classes you need | No form needed for a public search | Before filing |
| 2. Filing | Application filed online with IP India, one form covering one or several classes | Form TM-A | Application number the same day |
| 3. Formalities and coding | Registry checks the papers. A logo is also coded under the Vienna classification of figurative elements. | Shown as Formalities Check Pass or Fail | Weeks after filing |
| 4. Examination | Examiner checks distinctiveness (Section 9) and conflict with earlier marks (Section 11), then issues a report | Marked for Exam, then Objected or Accepted | Usually some months after filing; depends on Registry workload |
| 5. Reply and hearing | You answer the examination report. If the reply does not satisfy the examiner, a show cause hearing is listed. | Reply within 30 days of the report | Hearing date set by the Registry |
| 6. Advertisement | Accepted mark published in the Trade Marks Journal | Accepted and Advertised | After acceptance |
| 7. Opposition window | Anyone may oppose. If someone does, you must file a counter-statement. | 4 months to oppose; 2 months to counter, Form TM-O | 4 months from the Journal date |
| 8. Registration | Certificate issued and the mark entered on the register. The R symbol may now be used. | Status shows Registered | Roughly 12 to 24 months overall if unopposed |
| 9. Renewal | Registration renewed in 10 year blocks, counted from the filing date | Form TM-R, up to 1 year before expiry | Every 10 years |
Two practical points sit behind that table. First, the clock that matters most to you starts on day one: the filing date is your priority date and the date your ten years run from. Second, the only stages with deadlines you control are the reply to the examination report and the counter-statement to an opposition. Everything else waits on the Registry. Our trademark search guide covers stage 1 in detail, and the guide to replying to an objection covers stage 5.
Trademark status is checked free on the IP India e-Status service at tmrsearch.ipindia.gov.in/estatus. You need either the application number or, if you have lost it, the mark, the proprietor’s name and the class.
| Status shown | What it means | What you should do |
|---|---|---|
| New Application / Send to Vienna Codification | Filed and waiting. Vienna coding applies only to logos. | Nothing. You may use the TM symbol. |
| Formalities Check Fail | A document or detail in the filing is defective | Correct it promptly, usually on Form TM-M |
| Marked for Exam | With an examiner | Check weekly. The report can arrive at any point. |
| Objected | Examination report issued raising objections | Reply within 30 days of the report |
| Accepted and Advertised / Advertised before Accepted | Published in the Journal and open to opposition for 4 months | Watch for any notice of opposition |
| Opposed | A third party has filed an opposition | Counter-statement within 2 months of service |
| Refused / Abandoned | Refused after a hearing, or treated as abandoned for want of a reply | Ask at once whether review, appeal or a fresh filing is open to you |
| Registered | Certificate issued | Diarise the renewal date shown on the record |
| Removed | Taken off the register, usually for non-renewal | Restoration is possible only within 1 year of expiry |
IP India notes that its online data may contain errors and omissions. If the record and your documents disagree, the correction is made by applying to the Registry with proof, not by waiting for the website to update.
Most people arrive at a trademark page in the middle of something rather than at the start. Find your situation and go straight to it.
| Your situation | What you need | Professional fee | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Considering a name, nothing filed | Trademark search | Free | 30 seconds |
| Name chosen, want to file | Trademark registration | From ₹2,199 per class | Filed in 2 to 3 days |
| Want the name protected in any font | Wordmark registration | From ₹2,199 per class | 2 to 3 days to file |
| Status shows Objected | Objection reply | From ₹3,599 | 3 days to draft |
| A hearing has been scheduled | Hearing representation | From ₹7,199 | Per hearing |
| Status shows Opposed | Opposition defence | From ₹8,999 | 2 to 4 years |
| A registered mark blocks yours | Rectification | From ₹4,499 | 2 to 3 years |
| Registration is expiring or removed | Renewal or restoration | From ₹1,799 | 2 to 3 days |
| Selling or acquiring the mark | Assignment | From ₹4,499 | 3 to 6 months |
| Letting somebody else use it | Licensing | From ₹7,999 | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Somebody is copying you | Infringement action | From ₹4,499 | Days, not months |
Professional fees are exclusive of the IP India fee, which is paid separately at actuals. Where a stage involves the Registry deciding something, the timeline is the Registry’s and not ours.
Two separate amounts, and conflating them is how people end up surprised. The government fee is fixed by the First Schedule to the Trade Marks Rules 2017 and is paid to IP India. The professional fee is what you pay for the work. Neither is refundable if the application fails.
| Applicant | E-filing, per class per mark | Paper filing |
|---|---|---|
| Individual | ₹4,500 | ₹5,000 |
| DPIIT recognised startup | ₹4,500 | ₹5,000 |
| Small enterprise, Udyam registered | ₹4,500 | ₹5,000 |
| Company, LLP, partnership, trust, society | ₹9,000 | ₹10,000 |
Note. If you are MSME or Udyam registered, a DPIIT recognised startup, or filing as an individual, the government fee is ₹4,500 per class. If not, it is ₹9,000 per class. Udyam registration is free and takes minutes, and it must be in place before the application is filed.
Always file electronically. It is cheaper by ₹500 to ₹1,000 per class, and it gives an immediate filing number and date from which the TM symbol can be used. Paper filing offers no advantage whatsoever.
| Later-stage IP India fee (e-filing) | Form | Official fee |
|---|---|---|
| Notice of opposition, counter-statement or rectification, per class | TM-O | ₹2,700 |
| Renewal, per class (same for every applicant category) | TM-R | ₹9,000 |
| Renewal within 6 months after expiry, per class | TM-R | ₹4,500 surcharge plus ₹9,000 renewal |
| Restoration and renewal, per class | TM-R | ₹9,000 plus ₹9,000 renewal |
| Recording an assignment (subsequent proprietor), per mark | TM-P | ₹9,000 |
| Registered user (licensee), per mark | TM-U | ₹4,500 |
| Extension of time, certified copy and similar requests | TM-M | ₹900 |
| Expedited examination, individual, startup or small enterprise | TM-M | ₹20,000 per class |
| Expedited examination, all other applicants | TM-M | ₹40,000 per class |
Renewal is where the concession stops. The ₹4,500 rate applies to the application only; renewal is ₹9,000 per class for everyone filing online. Fees above are the e-filing column of the IP India schedule as at October 2026, and our professional fee is separate.
The fee halves for individuals, DPIIT recognised startups and Udyam registered small enterprises. That is a fifty per cent reduction on the single unavoidable cost in the process, and it turns on one question: who is named as the applicant on Form TM-A.
A private limited company with no Udyam registration pays ₹9,000 per class. The same company, holding a Udyam certificate obtained before filing, pays ₹4,500. Across three classes that is ₹13,500 saved for a registration that is free to obtain and takes minutes. The certificate has to be in the name of the entity that will own the mark, and it has to exist before the application is filed. Attaching it afterwards does not recover the difference.
There is a trade-off worth naming. Filing as an individual gets the lower fee but puts the mark in a person’s name rather than the company’s, which becomes an assignment exercise later if the company was always meant to own it, and a diligence question if you raise money. In most cases the right answer is to get Udyam or DPIIT recognition first and file in the entity’s name. We will tell you which applies to you before anything is filed.
Trademark matters are lost on the calendar far more often than on the merits. These are the dates that decide outcomes.
| Stage | Deadline | What happens if you miss it |
|---|---|---|
| Reply to examination report | 30 days from the report | Application treated as abandoned. Extension possible on Form TM-M but never guaranteed. |
| Opposition by a third party | 4 months from advertisement in the Journal | The window closes and the mark proceeds to registration. Section 21(1). |
| Counter-statement to an opposition | 2 months from receipt of the notice | Application deemed abandoned. Not extendable by anyone, including the Registrar. Section 21(2). |
| Renewal | Any time within 1 year before expiry | Rule 57(1). The Registrar separately sends a Form RG-3 notice up to 6 months before expiry, but that is a reminder, not the filing window. |
| Late renewal on surcharge | Within 6 months from expiry | Mark stays on the register. Proviso to Section 25(3) and Rule 59. |
| Restoration | After 6 months and within 1 year from expiry | Discretionary, and the Registrar weighs the interests of others affected. Beyond one year the mark is permanently off and a fresh application starts with a new priority date. Section 25(4) and Rule 60. |
The counter-statement deadline is the harshest provision in Indian trademark practice. Two months, no extension, and the consequence is abandonment of an application you may have been prosecuting for two years. If a notice of opposition has been served on you, that is the day to call somebody, not the week before it expires.
Roughly 12 to 24 months from filing to registration where nothing goes wrong. Where an objection is raised it is longer, and where an opposition is filed it becomes years rather than months. Anybody promising registration in weeks is describing the filing, not the registration.
What you get quickly is the part that matters commercially. Filing produces an application number and a priority date the same day, and from that point you can use the TM symbol on packaging, on your website and in marketing. Priority is what stops somebody else filing the same mark next month. Registration is what lets you enforce it and use the R symbol.
If you can only file one, file the name. A wordmark protects the word itself in any font, colour and layout, so it survives every rebrand. A device or logo registration protects the logo you have today, which is not the logo you will have in three years. Founders routinely do this the wrong way round because the logo feels like the brand, then rebrand and discover the registration protects an image nobody uses any more.
The ideal position is both, filed together in the same class. Where budget forces a choice, the wordmark is the one that keeps working.
India follows the NICE classification, 45 classes in total. Classes 1 to 34 cover goods and 35 to 45 cover services. Fees are charged per class per mark, so class selection is the single biggest driver of total cost after applicant category.
The expensive error is filing in a class that does not actually cover what you sell. A software business that files in Class 9 for its product and never files Class 42 for its services has protected the download and not the platform. Correcting that means an amendment on Form TM-M to strike the wrong specification plus a fresh application in the right class, with a new priority date and a second full fee. Getting the specification right at filing costs a conversation. Getting it wrong costs the fee twice and a year of priority.
| If your business is | Classes to look at first | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Software product, app or SaaS | 9 and 42 | 9 covers downloadable software; 42 covers software as a service and development |
| Clothing or fashion label | 25, often with 18 and 35 | 25 is clothing, footwear and headwear; 18 is bags and leather goods; 35 is retail |
| Packaged food brand | 29, 30 or 32 | 29 dairy, meat and preserved foods; 30 tea, coffee, snacks and bakery; 32 non-alcoholic drinks |
| Restaurant, café or cloud kitchen | 43, with 30 if you sell packaged goods | 43 is food and drink services |
| Cosmetics or personal care | 3, with 44 for a salon | 3 is cosmetics and cleaning products; 44 is beauty and medical services |
| Online store or marketplace | 35, plus the goods classes you sell | 35 covers retail and online store services, not the goods themselves |
| Coaching, education or events | 41 | Education, training and entertainment |
| Finance, insurance or real estate | 36 | Financial, monetary and real estate services |
| Travel or logistics | 39 | Transport, packaging and travel arrangement |
| Pharmaceuticals or supplements | 5 | Medicines, dietary supplements and medical preparations |
An examination report is not a rejection. It is the Registry raising a problem, usually under Section 9 on distinctiveness or Section 11 on conflict with an earlier mark, and giving you 30 days to answer. A large proportion of Indian applications receive one, and a well drafted objection reply clears many of them.
What loses applications at this stage is silence. The report arrives by email to the address on record, which is the agent’s address if you filed through an agent, and if nobody forwards it the 30 days run out against a client who never saw it. Check the status yourself while it shows Marked for Exam, and check weekly once it shows Objected.
Once your mark is accepted it is advertised in the Trade Marks Journal, and any person may oppose it within four months of that advertisement. Opposition is adversarial proceedings before the Registrar rather than a Registry query, and it runs on evidence, affidavits and hearings over a period commonly measured in years.
The clock that decides your outcome is the counter-statement, due within two months of the notice being served on you. Miss it and the application is deemed abandoned under Section 21(2), regardless of how strong your case was. Most oppositions that are lost outright are lost there rather than on the arguments.
Registration lasts ten years and is renewable in ten year blocks, indefinitely. Section 25(1) sets the term without naming the start date, and the Registry runs it from the date of application, so renewal falls due ten years after you filed rather than ten years after the certificate arrived.
Three windows follow, and they are widely misreported. Under Rule 57(1) the renewal application on Form TM-R may be filed at any time not more than one year before expiry, so you have a full year, not six months. The six month figure that circulates belongs to Rule 58, under which the Registrar sends a Form RG-3 reminder up to six months before expiry. Treating the reminder as the deadline is how marks get lost.
Miss the expiry date and the proviso to Section 25(3) allows renewal on payment of a surcharge within six months from expiry, during which the mark stays on the register. Miss that too and the mark is removed. Restoration is then applied for under Section 25(4) after six months and within one year from expiry, and it is discretionary, with the Registrar required to weigh the interests of anyone else affected. Note that both of those windows run from the expiry date, not from the date of removal. Beyond one year the mark is gone and a fresh application starts with a new priority date.
Renewal is not the only way to lose a mark. Under Section 47, a registered mark that has not been put to bona fide use for a continuous period of five years from the date it was entered in the register, measured up to three months before the application, becomes liable to removal on the application of an aggrieved person. Any genuine commercial use during that period breaks the continuity and defeats the application. This cuts both ways: it is the reason to keep evidence of use, and it is the route by which a registered mark blocking your name can sometimes be cleared through rectification.
| Worked example: mark filed on 15 March 2017 | Date | Official fee per class (e-filing) |
|---|---|---|
| Registration expires (10 years from filing) | 15 March 2027 | |
| Renewal window opens (Rule 57(1)) | 15 March 2026, so open now | ₹9,000 |
| Last day to renew on surcharge | 15 September 2027 | ₹9,000 + ₹4,500 |
| Restoration window | 15 September 2027 to 15 March 2028 | ₹9,000 + ₹9,000 |
| After this date, fresh application only | 15 March 2028 | New TM-A fee and new priority date |
Anyone who filed a mark between October 2016 and October 2017 is inside the renewal window today. Check the renewal date on the e-Status record rather than the date on the certificate, because the ten years run from filing.
An assignment transfers ownership. The deal closes, the deed is signed, and then very often nobody files Form TM-P with the Registry. Eighteen months later the buyer finds they cannot renew the mark, cannot sue an infringer and cannot prove title, because the seller is still the registered proprietor. Recording the assignment is the step that makes the transaction real.
A licence lets somebody else use the mark while you keep it. Cross-border licensing is two jobs rather than one. There is the trademark side, meaning the agreement, the registered user filing and the quality control that keeps the mark enforceable, and there is the money side, meaning GST on the royalty, withholding tax, Forms 15CA and 15CB and transfer pricing. Getting the first right and the second wrong produces a valid licence with a tax problem attached.
Most enforcement never reaches a court. Counterfeit marketplace listings, a competitor trading under a near identical name, a domain registered before you thought to, all commonly end with a first letter or a platform takedown form. Litigation is the last resort rather than the first move.
Where a matter does escalate, know where it goes. The Intellectual Property Appellate Board was abolished on 4 April 2021 by the Tribunals Reforms Ordinance, later enacted as the Tribunals Reforms Act 2021, and Section 83 of the Trade Marks Act was deleted. Appeals against decisions of the Registrar now lie to the High Court, and matters pending before the IPAB were transferred to the High Courts. The Delhi High Court has created an Intellectual Property Division and the Madras High Court has followed. Guidance still pointing you to the IPAB is five years out of date, and acting on it costs a limitation period.
One provision worth knowing before you print anything. Section 107 penalises falsely representing a mark as registered, which includes using the R symbol before registration is granted or for classes the mark is not registered in. The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act 2023 removed the earlier imprisonment penalty and substituted a monetary penalty of half of one per cent of total sales or turnover, or ₹5,00,000, whichever is less, adjudicated by an officer under the Trade Marks (Holding Inquiry and Appeal) Rules 2024. It is no longer a jail risk. It is still a penalty, and it is entirely avoidable by using TM until the certificate arrives.
| Right | Protects | Governing Act | Term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trademark | A sign distinguishing your goods or services | Trade Marks Act 1999 | 10 years, renewable indefinitely |
| Copyright | Original literary, artistic, musical and software works | Copyright Act 1957 | Generally life of the author plus 60 years |
| Design | The visual appearance of an article | Designs Act 2000 | 10 years, extendable by 5 |
| Company name | Nothing, on its own | Companies Act 2013 | While the company exists |
The last row causes more trouble than the rest combined. Incorporating a company with a given name does not give you trademark rights in it. The MCA name approval and the Trade Marks Register are separate systems that do not consult each other. Founders regularly incorporate, build a brand for two years and then receive a cease and desist from somebody who registered the mark, and the certificate of incorporation is no answer to it. For a fuller side-by-side, including patents, see trademark vs copyright vs patent.
Search the register, file Form TM-A online with IP India, pass the formalities check, and wait for examination. If the examiner objects you reply within 30 days and may be called to a hearing. Once accepted, the mark is advertised in the Trade Marks Journal for four months. If nobody opposes, or an opposition fails, the mark is registered for ten years from the filing date.
Use the free IP India e-Status service at tmrsearch.ipindia.gov.in/estatus. Enter your application number, which is also your registration number, and view the record. Without the number, search by the mark, the proprietor’s name, the class and the goods or services. The record shows the status, any examination report and opposition, and the renewal date once registered.
There are 45 classes under the Nice Classification, which IP India follows. Classes 1 to 34 cover goods and Classes 35 to 45 cover services. A software business typically looks at Classes 9 and 42, a restaurant at Class 43, and an online store at Class 35 plus the classes for the goods it sells. The fee is charged per class.
The IP India fee for renewal on Form TM-R is ₹9,000 per class when filed online, and the lower ₹4,500 rate for individuals and small enterprises does not apply to renewal. Renewing within six months after expiry adds a ₹4,500 surcharge per class. Restoration after that, within one year of expiry, costs ₹9,000 plus the ₹9,000 renewal fee per class.
It means the examiner has accepted the mark and it has been published in the Trade Marks Journal. For the next four months anyone may file an opposition. If no opposition is filed in that window, the Registry proceeds to register the mark and issue the certificate. Keep checking the e-Status record during those four months, because a counter-statement to any opposition is due within two months.
Yes. A single Form TM-A can name several classes, but the government fee is charged for each class, so a three class filing at the ₹4,500 rate costs ₹13,500 in official fees. Professional fees are also per class. A multi-class application keeps the paperwork in one place. If one class runs into trouble, the application can be divided on Form TM-M (official fee ₹1,800 online) so the clear classes move on.
TM can be used from the moment you file, and even before, since it simply asserts a claim to the mark. The R symbol may only be used once registration has been granted, and only for the classes the mark is actually registered in. Using R before registration is a false representation under Section 107, which now carries a monetary penalty of half of one per cent of turnover or ₹5,00,000, whichever is less.
The government fee is ₹4,500 per class per mark for an individual, DPIIT recognised startup or Udyam registered small enterprise filing online, and ₹9,000 for everyone else. Professional fees at CorporateWalla start at ₹2,199 per class. Both are per class, so a two class filing doubles both. Objection or opposition stages carry their own fees.
Yes, if the applicant qualifies as an individual, a DPIIT recognised startup or a Udyam registered small enterprise. The certificate must be in the name of the entity that will own the mark and must exist before filing. Udyam registration is free and takes minutes. Claiming the concession without a valid certificate invites an objection and loses the discount.
Roughly 12 to 24 months where nothing goes wrong. An objection adds months, an opposition adds years. The application number and the right to use TM arrive within days of filing, which is what protects your priority date while the rest runs its course.
The Registry has raised an objection, usually under Section 9 or Section 11, and you have 30 days from the report to reply. It is not a refusal and many objections are cleared by a properly drafted reply. Missing the 30 days is what turns an objection into an abandoned application.
An objection comes from the Registry during examination and is answered within 30 days. An opposition comes from a third party after the mark is advertised, is filed within four months of advertisement under Section 21, and requires a counter-statement within two months of service. That two month period is not extendable and missing it abandons the application.
Only in the classes covering what you actually sell or intend to sell shortly. There are 45 classes and fees are charged per class, so filing broadly is expensive. Filing too narrowly is worse, because a class you skipped is a class somebody else can occupy. The specification is worth getting right at filing rather than amending later.
Yes, in two ways. By not renewing it: Form TM-R may be filed any time within one year before expiry under Rule 57(1), then on surcharge within six months from expiry, then by restoration after six months and within one year from expiry under Section 25(4). Both later windows run from the expiry date, not from removal. Or by not using it, in which case an aggrieved person may apply for removal under Section 47 after five years of continuous non-use from the date of entry in the register, measured up to three months before their application.
No. Company name approval under the Companies Act and trademark registration under the Trade Marks Act are separate processes with separate registers. A certificate of incorporation is no defence to an infringement claim by a registered proprietor. If the name matters to your business, file it as a trademark as well.
To the High Court. The Intellectual Property Appellate Board was abolished on 4 April 2021 by the Tribunals Reforms Act 2021, and its functions were transferred to the High Courts, with pending matters moved across. The Delhi and Madras High Courts have dedicated Intellectual Property Divisions. Any guidance directing you to the IPAB is out of date.
Almost every trademark problem is cheaper to find before filing than after. A search tells you whether the name is clear, whether a conflicting mark is already on the register, and whether the classes you assumed are the classes you need. Ours is free and takes thirty seconds. We file for applicants across India from our Kolkata, Delhi and Bengaluru offices, and if you prefer a local page, see trademark registration in Kolkata.
If the search throws up something, that is the conversation worth having, and it is better to have it now than after an examination report. Call or WhatsApp +91 72783 76654, or email info@corporatewalla.com. A CA calls back within 30 minutes.
All fees and charges listed are indicative only and do not constitute a binding offer. Final amounts may vary depending on the volume of work and the complexity involved. Government fees are payable to IP India at actuals and are not included in professional fees.
Tell us which stage you are at and a CA or CS tells you what is due, when, and what happens if it slips. Search is free and takes thirty seconds. Call 72783 76654. Mon–Sat, 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM IST.
