Trademark Registration and Patent Registration - We offer low cost Trademark Registration in India and Worldwide Patent Search and Global Trademark Search Services of International Quality. Our Services cover the entire gamut of Intellectual Property Rights. Our clients range from Individual Inventors and startups to Fortune 500 Companies. We employ top notch India Patent Attorneys,Scientists,India Trademark Attorneys,former Patent Office Examiners and have expertise in multiple domains.

India Trademark Registration

1. A positive Trademark Search report that confirms that the mark can be filed and Trademark Registration obtained.
2. Power of Attorney
3. Logo of the client in jpg format.

Before answering this question please understand the Legal Position on the Subject. In addition to these basic principles of Law there are a very large number of cases which provide additional insight in to the requirements for a positive search and you can understand why doing a thorough search is needed before finalizing your mark.

Section 2(zb) of the Trademarks Act 1999 defines a Trademark As Follows:

(zb) "trade mark" means a mark capable of being represented graphically and which is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from choose of others and may include shape of goods, their packaging and combination of colours , and

in relation to Chapter XII (other than section 107), a registered trade mark or mark used in relation to goods or services for the purpose of indicating or so as to indicate a connection in the course of trade between the goods or services, as the case may be, and some person having the right as proprietor to use the mark, and

in relation to other provisions of this Act, a mark used or proposed to be used in relation to goods or services for the purpose of indicating or so to indicate to a connection in the course of trade between the goods or services, as the case may be, and some person having the right, either as proprietor or by way of permitted user, to use the mark whether with or without any indication of the identity of that person, and includes a certification trade mark or collective mark.

When a Trademark is Examined by the Trademark Examiner the following sections of the Trademark Act are considered.

(1) The trade marks-

(a) which are devoid of any distinctive character, that is to say, not capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of another person;

(b) which consist exclusively of marks or indications which may serve in trade to designate the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, values, geographical origin or the time of production of the goods or rendering of the service or other characteristics of the goods or service;

(c) which consist exclusively of marks or indications which have become customary in the current language or in the bona fide and established practices of the trade,

shall not be registered :

Provided that a trade mark shall not be refused registration if before the date of application for registration it has acquired a distinctive character as a result of the use made of it or is a well-known trade mark.

(2) A mark shall not be registered as a trade mark if-

(a) it is of such nature as to deceive the public or cause confusion;

(b) it contains or comprises of any matter likely to hurt the religious susceptibilities of any class or section of the citizens of India;

(c) it comprises or contains scandalous or obscene matter;

(d) its use is prohibited under the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 (12 of 1950).

(3) A mark shall not be registered as a trade mark if it consists exclusively of-

(a) the shape of goods which results from the nature of the goods themselves; or

(b) the shape of goods which is necessary to obtain a technical result; or

(c) the shape which gives substantial value to the goods.

Explanation.-

For the purposes of this section, the nature of goods or services in relation to which the trade mark is used or proposed to be used shall not be a ground for refusal of registration.

(1) Save as provided in section 12, a trade mark shall not be registered if, because of-

(a) its identity with an earlier trade mark and similarity of goods or services covered by the trade mark; or

(b) its similarity to an earlier trade mark and the identity or similarity of the goods or services covered by the trade mark,

there exists a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public, which includes the likelihood of association with the earlier trade mark.

(2) A trade mark which-

(a) is identical with or similar to an earlier trade mark; and

(b) is to be registered for goods or services which are not similar to those for which the earlier trade mark is registered in the name of a different proprietor,

shall not be registered, if or to the extent, the earlier trade mark is a well-known trade mark in India and the use of the later mark without due cause would take unfair advantage of or be detrimental to the distinctive character or repute of the earlier trade mark.

(3) A trade mark shall not be registered if, or to the extent that, its use in India is liable to be prevented-

(a) by virtue of any law in particular the law of passing off protecting an unregistered trade mark used in the course of trade; or

(b) by virtue of law of copyright.

(4) Nothing in this section shall prevent the registration of a trade mark where the proprietor of the earlier trade mark or other earlier right consents to the registration, and in such case the Registrar may register the mark under special circumstances under section 12.

Explanation.-For the purposes of this section, earlier trade mark means-

(a) a registered trade mark or convention application referred to in section 154 which has a date of application earlier than that of the trade mark in question, taking account, where appropriate, of the priorities claimed in respect of the trade marks;

(6) The Registrar shall, while determining whether a trade mark is a well-known trade mark, take into account any fact which he considers relevant for determining a trade mark as a well-known trade mark including-

(i) the knowledge or recognition of that trade mark in the relevant section of the public including knowledge in India obtained as a result of promotion of the trade mark;

(ii) the duration, extent and geographical area of any use of that trade mark;

(iii) the duration, extent and geographical area of any promotion of the trade mark, including advertising or publicity and presentation, at fairs or exhibition of the goods or services to which the trade mark applies;

(iv) the duration and geographical area of any registration of or any application for registration of that trade mark under this Act to the extent they reflect the use or recognition of the trade mark;

(v) the record of successful enforcement of the rights in that trade mark; in particular, the extent to which the trade mark has been recognised as a well-known trade mark by any court or Registrar under that record.

(7) The Registrar shall, while determining as to whether a trade mark is known or recognised in a relevant section of the public for the purposes of sub-section (6), take into account-

(i) the number of actual or potential consumers of the goods or services;

(ii) the number of persons involved in the channels of distribution of the goods or services;

(iii) the business circles dealing with the goods or services, to which that trade mark applies.

(8) Where a trade mark has been determined to be well-known in at least one relevant section of the public in India by any court or Registrar, the Registrar shall consider that trade mark as a well-known trade mark for registration under this Act.

(9) The Registrar shall not require as a condition, for determining whether a trade mark is a well-known trade mark, any of the following, namely:-

(i) that the trade mark has been used in India;

(ii) that the trade mark has been registered;

(iii) that the application for registration of the trade mark has been filed in India;

(iv) that the trade mark-

(a) is well known in; or

(b) has been registered in; or

(c) in respect of which an application for registration has been filed in, any jurisdiction other than India; or

(v) that the trade mark is well-known to the public at large in India.

(10) While considering an application for registration of a trade mark and opposition filed in respect thereof, the Registrar shall-

(i) protect a well-known trade mark against the identical or similar trade marks;

(ii) take into consideration the bad faith involved either of the applicant or the opponent affecting the right relating to the trade mark.

(11) Where a trade mark has been registered in good faith disclosing the material informations to the Registrar or where right to a trade mark has been acquired through use in good faith before the commencement of this Act, then, nothing in this Act shall prejudice the validity of the registration of that trade mark or right to use that trade mark on the ground that such trade mark is identical with or similar to a well-known trade mark.

In the case of honest concurrent use or of other special circumstances which in the opinion of the Registrar, make it proper so to do, he may permit the registration by more than one proprietor of the trade marks which are identical or similar (whether any such trade mark is already registered or not) in respect of the same or similar goods or services, subject to such conditions and limitations, if any, as the Registrar may think fit to impose.

(1) Any person claiming to be the proprietor of a trade mark used or proposed to be used by him, who is desirous of registering it, shall apply in writing to the Registrar in the prescribed manner for the registration of his trade mark.

(2) A single application may be made for registration of a trade mark for different classes of goods and services and fee payable therefor shall be in respect of each such class of goods or services.

(3) Every application under sub-section (1) shall be filed in the office of the Trade Marks Registry within whose territorial limits the principal place of business in India of the applicant or in the case of joint applicants the principal place of business in India of the applicant whose name is first mentioned in the application as having a place of business in India, is situate:

Provided that where the applicant or any of the joint applicants does not carry on business in India, the application shall be filed in the office of the Trade Marks Registry within whose territorial limits the place mentioned in the address for service in India as disclosed in the application, is situate.

(4) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Registrar may refuse the application or may accept it absolutely or subject to such amendments, modifications, conditions or limitations, if any, as he may think fit.

(5) In the case of a refusal or conditional acceptance of an application, the Registrar shall record in writing the grounds for such refusal or conditional acceptance and the materials used by him in arriving at his decision.

In addition to these sections used by the Tradmark Registry you must also be careful about committing a Trademark Infringement by using a mark in commerce. Section 29 of the Trademarks Act 1999 deals with Infringement of Trademarks and you must pay special attention to Section 29(4) which is extracted below for ready reference

29. Infringement of registered trade marks.-

(4) A registered trade mark is infringed by a person who, not being a registered proprietor or a person using by way of permitted use, uses in the course of trade, a mark which-

(a) is identical with or similar to the registered trade mark; and

(b) is used in relation to goods or services which are not similar to those for which the trade mark is registered; and

(c) the registered trade mark has a reputation in India and the use of the mark without due cause takes unfair advantage of or is detrimental to, the distinctive character or repute of the registered trade mark.

(5) A registered trade mark is infringed by a person if he uses such registered trade mark, as his trade name or part of his trade name, or name of his business concern or part of the name, of his business concern dealing in goods or services in respect of which the trade mark is registered.

If you see the import of the Section 29(4) and (5)

Trademark should not be a misspelled version of the existing Trademark of any goods or services.

Trade Name of a company should not be identical with or similar to a Registered Trademark for the same type of goods or If the Registered Trademark is a Well Known Trademark for any type of goods or services.

You can understand the amount of training and knowledge needed to do a professional Trademark Search. It is not just a question of looking at a free database to see if identical words are present for identical goods or otherwise but requires a significant expertise in this specific branch of Law.

We need to do at least 14 types of searches to arrive at a reasonable level of certainty to file the application. The process may have to be repeated in each class Doing so in 45 classes is tough And then do it on the Internet and do it company name database before you can reach a conclusion that it can be filed. Takes time and effort and so we charge for this service. Youcan also do it yourself as well if you are also aware of the implications and legal requirements and case law decisions on this niche topic which is very complicated to say the least.

Once you have a Positive Trademark Search Report you can file the Trademark Application.

The office Fee payable is Rs. 3500 for filing the Trademark Application. TMPsearchers charges a service charges of Rs. 1250 which includes the courier and POA stamp charges. So the total cost you need to pay to start the Trademark Application filing process and obtain the status of TM is Rs. 4750/- only.

The Trademark Registry would then provide a Trademark Application Number and would take up the application for examination by a Trademark Examiner. This process can take about 6 months to one year. If the Examination Report by the Examiner is positive the application would be advertised in the Trademarks Office Journal for public notice and if there is no third party opposition the mark is granted after the expiry of Four months from the date of such advertisement. The whole process can take a minimum of 18 months to get the certificate if you are lucky. This is only in the case where the Examiner does not object and no Third party opposition is filed.

If the Trademark Examiner feels that you need to provide more evidence and feels that an objection has to be raised on the ground of Section 9 or Section 11,then we need to file a response to the Trademark Examination Report and request a personal hearing. The scheduling of the Hearing takes time as the office currently is taking up only old cases for Hearing on seniority basis. During the Hearing the Examiner may ask us to file an affidavit and provide more evidence in the form of commercial transaction records to prove our case and also may direct us to file an Amendment application. If such a direction is issued we need to file Form TM 16 and pay an additional Fee to the office of Rs. 500/- If no such direction is issued and the examiner is satisfied with the evidence provided then the application ordered to be advertised in the Trademarks Office Journal. And if there is no opposition for a period of four months from the date of publication the application is allowed and proceeds to the issue of Trademark Registration Certificate.

This second process where the office raises an objection to the Application happens in about 50 per cent of the cases. In about 1o to 15 per cent of the cases we have to file an application for amendment. Whether an amendment application is needed is not known to us at the time of filing the application and it is solely in the discretion of the Trademark Examiner. So in such cases you need to spend an additional Rs. 500 towards Amendment charges. You will also have to provide notarized copies of the evidence to the Trademark Registry and this may cost you additional expenses depending on the number of documents that you propose to file and the costs of Notarization are dependent on the number of documents. Normally you can organize this at your end and we would assist you if there is a need without additional service charges for us.

We will keep you updated all the time with every step taken by us and every progress In your case. You will receive updates through email from us every time your case folder is updated.

Please note that in this type of case also there is no third party opposition to the Grant of Trademark Registration to you. The above two types of cases are called as Uncontested Trademark Registration.

So For an uncontested case of Trademark Registration,the Total costs for you can be Rs. 4750 + 500 for Amendment if there is a need and there are no other charges. Out of this you need to incur the expense of Rs.4750 at the time of Filing and Rs. 500 contingent expenses if there is an order to file amendment by the Trademark Examiner. Since the number of documents you file and the Notarization expenses are borne by you,we do not include Notarization expense here.

In about 5 per cent of the cases where the Trade Marks are advertized for Public Notice in the Trademarks Office Journal,third parties files opposition to the grant of the Trademark. This is a contested case and is no longer an issue between you and the Trademark Registry. This type of cases is an expensive case and is not covered by the Rs. 4750+ Rs.500 expenses we project above. We may have to file responses and miscellaneous applications for each of which significant fee will have to be paid to the office. The response fee is Rs.1000 and the miscellaneous application fee is Rs.2500 and application to inform the Registry that we are going to attend the hearing is Rs.500. Multiple petitions may have to be filed in a Trademark Opposition and it depends on the facts of the case and so it is not possible to cover the Trademark Opposition in the nominal fee of Rs.1250 charged by us as service charges.

India Patent Registration In India the Patent Registration is done under the Indian patent act 1970. The registration can be done with the help of a patent attorney,authorized by the Indian patent office. We have a vast experience in registering Patents in India and the U.S.A. Our clients range from individual inventors to multinational companies. Registering a Patent is a specialized activity that demands a lot of domain expertise. It involves conducting a search for prior art in various patent and scientific databases. The claim writing and specification writing is the heart of the patent document and the claims have to be drafted as per the prevalent rules to get adequate protection for the invention. We advise our clients on all aspects relating to patent registration,patent infringement,patentability,patent mapping,patent landscaping,patent alerts and patent invalidation. We offer Patent Registration Services worldwide and our services are available at affordable prices.

We offer worldwide prior art search covering patent and technical journal databases in multiple disciplines including

Chemical and Life sciences:

Biotechnology,Pharmaceuticals,Chemistry,Genetics,Microbiology and other life sciences.

Engineering disciplines including Mechanical,Electrical,Electronics,Semiconductors,Material Sciences,Metallurgy etc.,

We provide Patentability,Novelty,Freedom To Use,State Of The Art,Validity And Patent Portfolio Assessment of competitors and comprehensive IP audit. We use multiple databases to provide a comprehensive search report that includes chemical structure search and analysis and gene sequence searches.

Patent Pending status is obtained by filing a provisional patent application which also gets you the priority date for the invention. In a provisional patent application claims and oath or declaration need not be mentioned. The provisional application needs the preferred title of the invention,substantial disclosure of the invention by way of a written description and at least one drawing along with the names of the Inventors and applicant. Alternately a non-provisional application may also be filed to obtain the status of Patent Pending.

A complete specification contained in a non – provisional application has to be filed within 12 months of filing of the provisional application. For details about the complete specification please see the Requirements for a Complete Specification in India or the Non Provisional Application Requirements in USPTO

Our Patent Drawings have been accepted by both USPTO and PCT International Search Authorities in earlier applications.

We ensure that the drawings which also form an important part of the patent applications are upto the international standards and meet the requirements of the rules set forth by the USPTO or WIPO while filing the applications. Please see India Drawing Requirements,PCT Drawing Requirements and USPTO Drawing Requirements. We also provide Outsourced drawing services at Low cost.

A non-provisional application requires a detailed description of the invention,claims,an oath or declaration,any drawings to better explain the invention together with the associated forms including Invention Disclosure Statements with supporting documents and the filing fee. The requirements for a provisional and non-provisional application vary depending upon the nation in which they are being filed. Once the application containing the complete specification has been filed it is published after 18 months from the filing date. We assist our clients in filing both provisional and non-provisional applications for the patents. We prepare claims in patent applications to comply with patent claim drafting requirements of PCT,USPTO,India,EPO and other countries. Our claim drafting is specifically meant to comply with the requirements of 35 USC 102,35 USC 103 and 35 USC 112.

By filing for a PCT Patent Application,also known as International Patent Application the inventor can claim the same filing date as in the country of first filing and protect his invention in all countries which have acceded to the PCt.

The filing of a PCT Patent Application simplifies the process of patent filing in multiple countries. PCT involves two phases,the International Phase and the entry to National Phase in the designated countries. Please see PCT Patent Filing India for more details.

We provide assistance to our clients in preparing and filing patent applications in USPTO,India,Canada,UK,Singapore,Australia,Japan and other countries through our worldwide association. We prepare and assist to file applications for our clients either as PCT patent applications (National Phase) or as Convention applications or as a complete specification contained in a Non Provisional Patent Application. We also provides copies of India patent Specifications for granted patents for a nominal fee.

We provide patent prosecution support services including preparing responses to election/restriction requirements,preparing and filing divisional applications at USPTO,India,Canada,UK,Singapore,Australia,Japan and other countries,preparing and filing Continuation Applications or Continuation in Part applications and their corresponding PCT international phase and PCT national phase applications. We also prepare responses to Non-Final rejections and closely follow case law in US and India. We also provide Litigation Support services including Case Law Research and preparing Law Memos.

TMPSearchers retains licensed India Patent Agents and Attorneys and provides assistance in India specific Patent Services.

India Offers two types of Oppositions called Pre Grant and Post Grant Oppositions. In addition,a revocation Petition can also be filed to cancel a Patent already granted. Please see India Patent Opposition for more details.

TMPSearchers is the Only Website that offers Automated Free Patent Alerts for the patents filed by your competitors or in your technical discipline and published in the Patent Office Journal . Register with us to avail this free service. Registration is Free. Register Now

The procedure for filing a Pct National Phase Application together with the fees and forms required are stated in a detailed way in India Patent Act and India Patent Rules. Since India acceded to the PCT in 1998 the extent of Patent Information made available online haS increased dramatically.

We assist our clients to obtain both design patents and utility patents. In India Design Patents are covered under the Designs Act.

A domain Dispute resolution complaint can be filed when any one tries to obtain a domain name which is identical to your domain name or where the domain name is identical to your Trademark. A complaint can be filed under the following circumstances where all three tests are met.

(3) that the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.

For a complaint to succeed all three elements must be present

Only when all the above conditions are met,a domain dispute can be successfully filed.

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