This post was first published on July 07, 2014.
In furtherance to the earlier post, related to trademark classification and search, we will now discuss the trademark filing process.
The procedure for registration of trademarks is contained in Section 18 to 26 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and Rules 25 to 62 of the Trade Marks Rules, 2002. A trademark application should be filed in the office of Trade Marks Registry within whose territorial limits the principal place of business of the applicant is situated. In case of applicants who do not have a physical place of their business in India, the application should be filed in the office within whose jurisdiction the applicant’s address of service is located. State-wise jurisdictions for filing a trademark application are mentioned below:
| Location of TM Office/Jurisdiction | List of States |
| Mumbai | Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Goa and Madhya Pradesh |
| Ahmadabad | Gujarat and Rajasthan and the Union Territories of Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli |
| Kolkata | Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura and Union Territories of Nagaland, Andaman & Nicobar Islands |
| New Delhi | The States of Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, HimachalPradesh Delhi and the Union Territories of Chandigarh |
| Chennai | The States of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and the Union Territories of Pondichery and Lakshadweep Island |
The application for trademark filing is made using form TM 1. The list of forms to be used for filing other applications like for filing series marks, collective marks or certification marks are provided in Schedule 2 of the Trade Marks Rules, 2002. A trademark application should include the following particulars:
- Name and address of the Applicants
- Address of Service in India
- The goods and services in respect of which registration is sought and the class in which it falls
- The user detail of the mark
- The appropriate office
- A specimen of the mark to be attached
- Signature: The application and additional representation should be signed by the Applicant or by the authorized agent. To be considered an authorized agent a power of attorney in Form TM 48 has to be submitted by the Applicant
- Fees: INR 3,500 per application per class
We will summarize the next steps of the trademark registration process in our upcoming post.
