Trademark FAQ: every question we’re actually asked

The exclusive right to use your mark, name, logo, tagline, even a shape or sound, for the goods and services in your registration, across India, plus the right to stop confusingly similar use. It protects the connection between your name and your business in customers’ minds.

Trademarks protect brand identifiers (names, logos). Copyright protects creative works (your logo’s artwork, your website copy). Patents protect inventions. A single product can involve all three; a brand name is squarely trademark territory.

™ ka matlab hai aap mark par claim kar rahe hain, filing ke din se (ya bina registration ke bhi) use kar sakte hain. ® sirf registered mark ke saath legal hai; registration se pehle ® lagana Trade Marks Act ke under offence hai.

No, you can trade under an unregistered name, and long use builds some common-law rights. But enforcing unregistered rights means proving reputation from scratch in every dispute; registration is the shortcut the law offers, and platforms like Amazon effectively require it.

Yes, peacefully, in different classes for unrelated goods (the same word can be a paint brand and a café), or through recorded coexistence. The conflict test is confusion among customers, not mere identity of words.

Government fee per class, indicatively ₹4,500 for individuals/startups/small enterprises, ₹9,000 otherwise (verify at ipindia.gov.in), plus our fixed professional fee, quoted in writing upfront. The fee ledger itemises every later fee too.

Filing: 1–2 working days once documents are ready. Registration: commonly 8–18 months, longer if opposed. Your rights, crucially, date from the day of filing, the wait is administrative, not unprotected.

Nothing mandatory. Costs arise only if a contested stage does, an objection reply or an opposition, each quoted separately at the time, with your go-ahead required.

No, the fee pays for examination, not the outcome. Which is the whole argument for a proper search and honest advice before filing rather than after.

The common ones: “Formalities Chk Pass” (paperwork verified), “Marked for Exam” (queued for an examiner), “Objected” (examination report issued, a reply is due), “Accepted & Advertised” (published in the Journal), “Opposed” (a third party has challenged), “Registered” (done, ® unlocked). Send us your number and we’ll translate yours precisely.

You have 2 months from receiving the notice to file a counter statement, miss it and the application is deemed abandoned. After that come evidence rounds and a hearing, though many oppositions settle. Full picture on the opposition page.

Minor corrections (address, obvious errors) yes, via TM-M. Material changes, the mark itself, or widening the goods, no; that requires a fresh application. File carefully the first time.

A short, structured argument before a Registry officer, these days usually by video. Your representative addresses the maintained objections with case law and evidence. Unglamorous, routine, and frequently where stuck marks get accepted.

Start using ®, put the registration number on your invoices and packaging, diarise the 10-year renewal, and keep evidence of use, a registration unused for 5 years and 3 months becomes vulnerable to removal.

Typically a graded response: a cease-and-desist letter, marketplace takedowns (registration makes these fast), opposition if they’ve applied to register, and infringement proceedings where needed. The right first move depends on the copier, we’ll help you calibrate it.

No, trademarks are territorial. For exports, file in target countries directly or via the Madrid Protocol using your Indian application as the base. Worth planning before your brand travels, not after.

Yes, marks are property: they can be assigned outright or licensed (as in franchising), with the change recorded at the Registry so the register reflects the deal.