Trademark Registration In India [A Step by Step Process Guide]

Trademark Registration

This is one inquiry that we get almost weekly by many entrepreneurs, fashion stylists and professionals,  we thought we could make your life easier by clarifying the air and a step by step process on how to get your Trademark Registered in India.

Trademark is a kind of a protected innovation or an Intellectual Property of an Entity / Person (Called IP in legal lingo) which grants its rightful owner the unrestricted right to make use of the registered trademark in connection to the products / services agains which the trademark is enlisted. For e.g. volody is a registered Trademark of Consultlane Business Solutions Pvt Ltd so we at ConsultLane Pvt Ltd are the rightfull and the only users of the work volody any body apart from us or somebody who is not entitled to use this can get into legal trouble for infringement of our IP.  A Trademark is generally an imprint as an icon, brand device, heading, Tag Line, Mark, or a fictitious name given to a product or any blend of the above thereof. Trademarks are utilized to demonstrate to the buying consumer that they are products / services made / offered by a specific individual as recognized by the government or the controller of Intellectual Property Rights in India (Controller General of Patents and Trademarks).

You can use the below mentioned process for registering a Trademark in India

Step 1: Do a Trademark Search

Doing a Trademark search is to ensure that the mark that you plan to enlist is not being used somewhere else or by some one else already.If it is you stand no chance to get yourself as registered user of that trademark. Thus it is better to search it before applying for that mark so as to save ourselves from the trouble of going through the hassles of reapplying or handling objections.

Step 2 : Decide the Classes you want to register your mark in

Once you have established that no one is using this mark you can go ahead and decide what all classed do you want to register you mark in. A Class is created by the controller to establish you nature of business or intended use of the trademark. Natura (Fictitious) registered by a Beverage company is in classes for registering the products (beverages) under their trademark. Natura can not be used by them to manufacture mattresses and put a TM on it.  Thus you need to carefully think about the classes because every class will be an additional burden on your pocket.  The classification has to be done according to Schedule 4 of the Trade Marks Rules, 2002.

Step 3 : Documentation

The form is a complex combinaton of the device, classes, applicant details and a case where in you define why you should be granted that particular TM. A Legal Consultant (like volody) will be more adept at drafting that form rather than a self proclaimed TM expert broker for doing this. A trademark application must be presented before the Controller. It ought to be filed at the designated offices of the Trade Marks Registry relating to the general place of business of the applicant. (In India, the Trademark registries are at Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahemdabad and Kolkata). So if your business is in Bengaluru, you need to apply before the Registry in Chennai).

Step 4: The form for applying for a TradeMark can be submited physically at the designated offices or can be submited online. If the form is submitted online, a Class 3 Digital Signature will be required to sign the form.

What is their is a NAME ? You Too ShakesPear!

We normally ask applicants to apply a trademark registration in their own name because in the event that they are uncertain about the possibilities of the business or they are not sure whether or not they would continue in the company where they are, but have an awesome cool name (TM) makes sense for the TM to be registered in you name at personal capacity so that when you move on, you can change classes of the TM applied during renewal and can continue using that name for a new venture.

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Unique Features of a Trademark that shall help you get the Trademark registration in India sooner :

The trademark registration to be enlisted needs to have particular unique components.  Ideally, it can’t be obscene words or foul names. It needs to not make any reference to a living individual. It can not be a branded name (pre existing set names defined by the controller).

For e.g. if you want to start a Street Driving school called “Salman Khan Driiving School(why anyone would do that), you CANNOT unless you have Bhaia’s consent.

What happens once you apply?

The controller / registrar will scrutinize the application then advertise in the public ledger for other to see that you have applied for this trademark registration, this is done to find out whether the trademark has been in use by some person and to resolve any conflicts if they arise.

Any entity wishing to oppose the trademark that you have chosen has to give written notice to the Registrar within a period of 90 Days after the advertisement has been made public.

In case of an opposition, the applicant has to build a case as to the reason for which this particular trademark should be awarded to them.  In case the applicant does not respond within 60 days after the opposition, application is closed with reason as application abandoned.

In case of won or no opposition, the registrar issues a certificate of registration in favour of the applicant and the trademark is registered. Generally, the whole process of registration takes 1.5-2 years depending on the severity of the opposition, from the date of application.

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volody provides trademark registration service which includes search, application, assigning, renewal and transfer (along with handled oppositions) at market beating prices at the hands of exper IP Attorneys, please contact volody@volody.com

Please visit https://volody.com/ to avail the services.