Trademark Registration: How to Register Trademark in India
Whenever someone starts a new business, a name, a logo and signature are the first things you choose in order to have a unique identity in the market. Trademark is a symbol or we can say a legal device to present your company familiar with the potential market. Trademarks are represented in the form of image, text sound, wording, numerical and artistically sketch or 3D Flash. The process of registering your trademark are controlled legally under Trade Marks Act, 1999.
Download – Trade Marks Act, 1999 || TradeMarks (Amendment) Act, 2010
We bring you the steps and procedure on how to register your trademark in India.
- First of all, let us know what are the initial requirements for the trademark:
- Soft copy of marked logo in photo format (JPEG preferred)
- Form TM-48 for the authorization
- Date of use of Trademark for the first time
- Name and physical address of the owner/proprietor of the proposed mark
Download – Manual of Trade Marks – Intellectual Property India
Step 1: Select the trademark type that you want to launch for your services
There are almost four types of the trademark that are registered under the trademark act of 1999 in India. That includes Collective trademark, Certification trademark, Defensive trademark and Genericised Trademark. Depending on the nature of your business you can opt for the suitable Trademark.
Step 2: Conduct the research for your selected trademark
There could be a high possibility that trademark that you have created is similar to already existing or registered Trademark. If that gets the case, you can get into trouble in future. Therefore, to avoid any legal issues in future do little research and add your creativity to make a unique mark.
Step 3: Fill the Trademark Application
Post verifying the originality of your mark get an application for the purpose of registration at the Trademark Registrar Office located nearest to one of these cities: Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai Hyderabad and Delhi. You will be issued a TM number along with the registration receipt. Submit the registration fee along with the forms and legal documents as required.
Step 4: Confirmation of Trademark Application
The authority will confirm the proposed application for a certain period of time. During this period they will verify against the mistreatment and check if there is any other similar trademark already registered with them or any pending ones. Post the verification process is complete, the authority will issue examination report. The application is published in Trade Mark Journal. After waiting for three months to see if there is any opposition or notice against the published trademark, the authority issues a certificate of registration of Trademark to the owner of the business. The registration tenure is ten years and this can be renewed for another ten years after the payment of renewal fees.
Nowadays there is a facility of E-filling offered by Trademark Registrar Office through its official website. It is an online service provided by the authority. This can help in:
- Online filling of the application form
- Add the documents as an attachment
- Make the payments online
The major benefit for the e filling of the trademark is that you will receive the application number immediately. It also helps in speeding up the registration process. Post registering you will receive the fee acknowledgment and print the completed form. You can check the status of your application on the website and also get the status for the e-Payments.