How to Register a Trademark in India: Step-by-Step

A trademark is the only form of protection that stops someone else trading under your name. Company incorporation does not do it: an MCA name approval and a trademark are decided by different authorities on different tests, and a company can be incorporated under a name that infringes a registered mark.

The process is slow but front-loaded. The work that matters happens in the first week.

Step 1: Search before you do anything else

This is the step people skip and the step that decides the outcome.

• The trademark public search on the IP India portal, across the classes you care about, for identical and phonetically similar marks.
• The MCA company and LLP name search, because an existing company name can be the basis of a passing-off claim even without a registration.
• A plain web and domain search, for unregistered prior users. India protects prior use, so someone using the mark without registering it can still defeat your application.

If the search turns up a conflict, change the mark now. Changing it after filing means filing again.

Step 2: Choose what you are protecting, and in which class

What can be registered: a word, a device or logo, a combination of both, a label, a shape of goods, packaging, a colour combination, and in principle a sound.

What will not be registered, broadly:

• marks that are descriptive of the goods or services, or of their quality, quantity or geographical origin — Section 9. "Fast Delivery" for a courier is not a trademark;
• marks that are generic or customary in the trade;
• marks identical or similar to an earlier mark for similar goods, likely to cause confusion — Section 11;
• marks that are deceptive, scandalous or obscene, hurt religious susceptibilities, or are prohibited under the emblems legislation.

A coined or arbitrary word is the strongest and the easiest to register. A descriptive phrase is the weakest, and even if registered gives you little.

The class is the critical choice. There are 45:

Common ones: 9 software and electronics, 25 clothing, 30 food, 35 advertising, business management and retail services, 41 education and entertainment, 42 IT and software services, 43 food and drink services.

Two points that cost applicants dearly:

• protection runs only in the classes you file. A clothing brand registered in 25 does not stop someone using the name for a restaurant;
• you cannot change class later. An application filed in the wrong class is abandoned and refiled, losing the original filing date. Where your business spans goods and services — a product and a platform to sell it — file a multi-class application, which costs per class but preserves one date.

Step 3: File TM-A

Filed online on the IP India portal with a DSC. What goes in:

• the mark itself, as a clear image file where it is a device or logo
• the applicant's name, address and nature — individual, proprietorship, partnership, LLP, company, trust
• the class or classes, and the specification of goods or services
• whether the mark is already in use, and if so, the date of first use with evidence such as invoices, advertisements, packaging or a website archive
• Form TM-48, the power of attorney, where an agent or attorney files for you

On fees, the statutory fee is per mark per class, and there is a reduced rate for an individual, a startup or a small enterprise — which is where a DPIIT recognition certificate or a Udyam registration certificate pays for itself immediately. Our posts on DPIIT recognition and Udyam registration cover both, and DPIIT recognition carries a 50% rebate on trademark filing fees.

Check the current fee schedule on the portal rather than relying on a figure in an article; it has been revised.

You get a filing receipt with an application number the same day, and you may use ™ immediately.

Claiming a genuine earlier date of first use is worth doing properly. India is a prior-use jurisdiction, and a well-evidenced use date predating a competitor's registration is a strong position.

Step 4: Examination, and the objection you should expect

The Registry examines the application and issues an examination report, usually within a few months.

Objections are normal — most applications get one. They are raised under:

• Section 9 — the mark is descriptive, generic or not distinctive;
• Section 11 — a conflict with an earlier mark, cited in the report.

You must reply within 30 days of the report.

What a reply contains:

1. A response to each ground, in order. For a Section 9 objection, argue distinctiveness — the mark is coined, suggestive rather than descriptive, or has acquired distinctiveness through use. For Section 11, distinguish each cited mark on the mark itself, the goods or services, and the trade channels.
2. Evidence of use, where you have it — invoices, turnover figures, advertising spend, social media reach, press coverage, packaging. Acquired distinctiveness is proved with documents, not adjectives.
3. A consent letter from the proprietor of a cited mark, where you can obtain one. This frequently resolves a Section 11 objection outright.
4. An amendment to the specification, narrowing the goods or services to remove the overlap with the cited mark.

If the reply does not satisfy the examiner, a show cause hearing is listed. Attend it. Applications are abandoned far more often by non-attendance than by refusal on the merits.

Step 5: Publication and opposition

Once accepted, the mark is published in the Trade Marks Journal. Any person may oppose within four months of publication.

If opposed:

• the opponent files a notice of opposition in TM-O;
• you file a counter-statement within two months — missing this is fatal, and the application is deemed abandoned;
• both sides file evidence by affidavit;
• a hearing follows, and then a decision.

An opposed application can take years. Many oppositions settle, often through a coexistence agreement limiting each party's goods or territory.

Step 6: Registration and renewal

With no opposition, or opposition decided in your favour, the mark is registered and the certificate issues. Registration is valid for ten years from the filing date, renewable indefinitely in ten-year terms on filing TM-R.

A renewal can be filed up to six months before expiry, and late within the period and surcharge the Act allows. Miss it entirely and the mark is removed from the register — which is recoverable by restoration, but expensively and not as of right.

Diarise the renewal for nine years and six months from filing. It is a long time away and it is exactly the kind of date that is lost when an adviser changes.

Timeline at a glance

What if things go wrong?

• Objection received — normal. Reply within 30 days with evidence, not assertion.
• 30 days missed — the application is treated as abandoned. A request for restoration is possible but discretionary; refiling loses your date.
• Hearing listed — attend, or send an authorised agent. Non-attendance is the commonest cause of refusal.
• Opposed — file the counter-statement within two months without fail, then consider whether a coexistence agreement serves you better than a four-year fight.
• Refused — appeal lies to the High Court within the prescribed period, following the transfer of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board's jurisdiction.
• Someone is using your mark — for a registered mark, an infringement action; for an unregistered one with genuine use, passing off. Send a cease and desist first; most matters end there.
• Wrong class filed — refile in the correct class. There is no transfer mechanism, which is why Step 2 deserves more care than Step 3.