Trademark registration is a procedure approved by the Government of India to register the trademark of companies to avoid duplication officially. Businesses need to secure their designs, brand names, logos or any different intellectual property. As a business proprietor, after you apply for trademark registration, you can examine the trademark registration status by utilizing the trademark registry portal.
The procedure of trademark registration allows a product, brand, or service to be legally distinct from the rival’s products. A trademark can be any design, phrase, symbol, word, sound, or logo. However, popular abbreviations or names cannot be utilized as trademarks. Before applying for a trademark, you must ensure that it is plain and aids you in marketing your products and generating brand identity.
The Registration Status of Trademark
Trademark registration is a prolonged process that requires continuous tracking. Staying updated about a trademark’s application status can help identify and fix factors obstructing its approval.
The emergence of online trademark registration in India has enhanced the transparency and efficiency of trademark filing. A trademark may be pronounced incontestable following 5 years of successive use from the date of federal registration.
The registration of a Trademark within India is entirely online and transparent. The Trademark Registry permits you to inspect your trademark registration status or your Trademark application online via its official portal (ipindia.gov.in).
An application for trademark registration undergoes different stages of scrutiny before being registered. The following are the stages or trademark registration statuses.
1. Fresh Application
The new application mentions its inclusion in the trademark registry database. This is the initial step, following which your trademark application form is processed. Following the filing of the application, the logo or brand name, as given in the application form, may be utilized with the “TM” designation.
2. Dispatch to Vienna Codification
Sending a trademark application to Vienna for coding means it will be sent to find the right Vienna code based on the picture elements of the device mark. Keep in mind that this status applies to picture trademarks such as labels, logos, and similar items. A trademark contains a numerical code if it carries a label, logo, or artwork, and this numerical code observes the Vienna Codification.
3. Formalities Check Pass
This signals that you have met all procedural formalities. Procedural formalities comprise filing a power of attorney, offering translation where any document is not in Hindi/English, and likewise. If you have completed all procedural formalities accurately, your trademark status will display as a formality check pass.
The prerequisites and formalities can comprise the following:
- Goods and services according to the NICE categorization;
- Affidavit and proof if the mark claims the user date prior to the filing date;
- Required stamp duty and notarization needed in the documents;
- Forms need to be entered appropriately without any errors.
4. Formalities Check Fail
If a few procedural formalities (as enumerated above) are unfinished or if you have not adequately adhered to them, your TM status will display as formalities chk fail. So, you will have to stick to the check failed stated by the trademark registry.
5. Dispatch Back to EDP
EDP signifies Electronic Data Processing. In a trademark application, all data entries and documents are digitized. So, Send Back to EDP implies that there has been slight error during data entry that requires to be corrected. This status does not need the applicant to adopt any steps.
6. Send to PRAS
The pre-registration amendment section shows when you have submitted an amendment prior to registering your trademark. The amendment may comprise the proprietor’s address, name, or similar things.
7. Marked for Exam
The status marked for the exam denotes the start of the legal process. The marked exam status implies that an Examiner will consider your application to decide its registration. The examiner will determine whether your trademark is eligible for registration as per the provisions of the Trademark Act.
8. Exam Report Issued
After the examiner performs the examination, the exam report is published. It would primarily include the objection put up for denying a trademark based on Section 9 or 11. Moreover, you can read more particulars on how to react to the exam report.
9. Objected Status
The examiner can generate objections against your trademark registration; the status of the trademark will display as objected. In the event of a complaint to your trademark, you must submit a reply within one month of getting the notice received through email. Nonetheless, you may prolong a month for recording the response by filing the required extension form. Moreover, you can know how to avoid objections. Once the Trademark examiner is contended with the response, the application will move on to the accepted or advertised before accepted status. Otherwise, the examiner may ask for a show cause hearing.
10. Abandoned Application
If you do not react to the trademark registrar within the specified time, like the reaction to the examination report, your trademark application will be dropped.
11. Accepted
Accepted denotes that the examiner has not put up any objections during the examination, and so your trademark will be issued in the trademark journal prior to registration. At this level, the applicant may not need to take any action but scrutinize the application’s progress.
12. Advertised Before Accepted
The significance of “advertised before accepted” is that your trademark has been issued in the trademark journal. ‘Before Accepted’ implies that your mark is issued to permit any third party to fight your mark before acknowledgement of the mark.
13. Accepted and Advertised
The “accepted and advertised” informs you about the advertising of your trademark in the trademark journal. There are really no alterations that you require to include in the application.
14. Ready for Show Cause Hearing
The “ready for show cause hearing” implies that the examiner does not contend with your reaction to the examination, so you get a chance to clarify why there should not be a denial of your mark. You need to be present in the hearing on a specified hearing date; otherwise, your mark can be abandoned or refused. At this time, the applicants can express their arguments regarding why the trademark should obtain registration during a hearing.
The applicant should prefer to attend the trademark hearing on the day fixed by the proper trademark hearing officer. If the applicant is not present, the officer may leave or refuse the application.
15. Refused Registration
If the examiner is not content with the response for the examination or during the hearing, he can reject your trademark registration.
16. Opposed Application
Following the advertisement of the trademark in the trademark Journal, a third party gets 4 months to obstruct the issued trademark. In case of third-party obstruction, the trademark application status will display as opposed.
17. Registered Status
Presently, your trademark is registered within the trademark registry. The Trademark Registry publishes a certificate of registration to the applicant against their application after the application crosses 4 months following the journal publication. Simultaneously, the trademark registration status on the portal is upgraded to “Registered”.
Now, you can download your trademark certificate at www.ipindia.nic.in.
18. Removed Trademark
The trademark is deleted from the trade marks register when the applicant does not comply with any of the Trademark Registry’s conditions. For example, the deletion may be due to the prompt non-renewal of the trademark.
19. Withdrawn Application
When you willingly withdraw your trademark application, your application status will exhibit as withdrawn. For instance, the applicant might prefer to withdraw his application if the mark is not acknowledged by the registry.
So, it is important to track trademark status regularly. Sticking to the proceeding guidelines will make registering your mark easier.
Advantages of Trademark Registration
The main advantages of trademark registration are the following:
- Legal Safety – Trademark registration offers legal security to the owner of the trademark. If any misuse of the trademark occurs, the owner can challenge it in a court of law. After you have submitted the trademark application, you can utilize the symbol TM. After obtaining the trademark registration certificate, you can also use the symbol ‘R’.
- Product Differentiation aids the law in distinguishing between separate brands and products. It ensures that your brand is exclusive and that your clients can distinguish your products from those of your rivals.
- Asset Creation – Trademark registration results in the building of an asset for the company. These trademarks can be sold, assigned, transferred, leased, or franchised. Trademarks can also be a means of income, and you can demand a depreciation rebate since it is an intangible asset.
- Brand Recognition—Trademark registration helps customers recognize your services and products, their features, quality, benefits, cost, etc. People usually recognize a brand by its trademarked logo.
- Building Trust—Getting a trademark makes people think better of your brand. It boosts your worth and tells customers about what your product can do and how good it is.
To Wrap Up
To make a brand stand out and help customers spot it, you need to register a trademark. This registration also keeps others from copying your trademark. The trademark status aids in knowing what the development in the registration procedure is.
To obtain trademark registration, one must undergo different processes. The process is technical, and one must solicit expert legal advice to conserve time. It is suggested that you engage the services of trademark experts when you desire to register or renew a trademark. Please don’t delay; get our team on the task immediately!
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