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.
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.
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 ₹2,499 per class | Filed in 2 to 3 days |
| Want the name protected in any font | Wordmark registration | From ₹1,999 | 2 to 3 days to file |
| Status shows Objected | Objection reply | From ₹2,999 | 3 days to draft |
| A hearing has been scheduled | Hearing representation | From ₹5,999 | Per hearing |
| Status shows Opposed | Opposition defence | From ₹9,999 | 2 to 4 years |
| A registered mark blocks yours | Rectification | From ₹19,999 | 2 to 3 years |
| Registration is expiring or removed | Renewal or restoration | From ₹1,999 | 2 to 3 days |
| Selling or acquiring the mark | Assignment | From ₹7,999 | 3 to 6 months |
| Letting somebody else use it | Licensing | From ₹7,999 | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Somebody is copying you | Infringement action | From ₹4,999 | 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ₹2,499 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.
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.
