Tag: Policy and Processes

The official fee charged by the Indian trademark office is Rs.4500 (Individuals, Startups and Small and Medium Enterprises – SME’s) and Rs.9000 (for others) per mark per class. The professional charges start from Rs.1999 and upwards depending on your service provider. It is as simple as deciding to have pani poori from your street corner vendor or having it at a five-star hotel. What’s important to be considered in choosing your service provider [as with any service] is the experience and quality of service one offers.

Your brand is the most valuable asset of your business and you should take some time to choose the right service provider. You can ask your service provider to provide you with a list of trademark they have helped register. Trademark records and their details are made available to the public and your service provider should be able to provide you this without any hassles. You can then cross check a few application numbers at the Indian trademark office website by keying in the application numbers.

Another major issue faced by trademark owners in India is that every tom dick and harry offers trademark filing. Yes, they offer filing, not registration. While I appreciate the fact that several designers, domain name registrants, accountants, engineers, and CA’s offer this as an extended service to their clients, it is unfortunate that quite a few of these service providers learn trademark law at the cost of their clients. It is also important to understand that obtaining a registration for a trademark in India involves several steps and it is not merely a form filling job. You should ask your service provider to provide you with the other costs, if any, from filing to registration. In many cases the trademark owner is in for a surprise with additional costs at a later date when objections are raised by the trademark office or oppositions are filed by third parties.

Let’s understand the steps involved in getting your trademark registered in India.

• Selecting a mark
• Classification of goods or services
• Search the trademark office records
• Filing the application
• Responding to objections from the trademark office
• Advertisement in the trademark journal
• Handling opposition by third parties
• Registration
• Maintenance or Renewal

Selecting a trademark is one of the toughest job for the trademark owner. This is going to be your brand and changing it later is not going to be easy. After several brainstorming sessions, you choose the right brand name for your business. Now that you have come up with a brand name it’s important to do a trademark search.

Classification of goods of services is very important for you to protect your trademark for the right goods of services you offer under your trademark.  It is important that your service provider understands your business well before deciding to select the classes in which the trademark should be protected. For example, your trademark will fall under difference classes if you offer web app development services vs having an app for the purposes of selling goods online.

Trademark Search is the process where the records of the trademark office are searched for the same or similar marks in the classes of your choice to see if anyone has filed for similar marks earlier than you. Additionally, it is advisable to do a general Internet search as well. Several countries including India are not a first to file but rather a first to use country. This means that whoever uses the trademark first gets more rights than the one who filed for an application with the Indian trademark office.

Thought trademark rights are territorial, technology has made the world a small place. Hence, it is advisable to run a Global search in whichever jurisdictions possible. Several trademark office databases are available online with free access.

A good thumb rule we follow at our firm is to check if a .com domain name is available for your trademark. If it’s not available, then it’s a red flag that needs to be considered. Many times, the domain names are merely parked and not used.

Costs for a trademark search: [Professional fees range from Rs.500 to 2500 per trademark per class along with a professional opinion+ No official fees.]

Filing the application may be one of the easiest one once the above steps are done properly. It’s like as getting your foundation in place before you start building your house. However, it is important to put in the right information in your application to avoid any objections by the trademark office on a later date. This obviously comes with experience.

[Professional fees range from Rs.999 and upwards per trademark per class + Rs.4500/9000 as official fees per mark per class.] Timeline: 1 to 2 days.

Objections are raised by the trademark office when they examine your application to register your trademark and the same should be responded to and complied within one month from the date of such objections. Most of these objections can be avoided when the same is foreseen at the time of classification and trademark search by your service provider. This not only saves costs but a lot of time in the process of getting your trademark registered in India.

[Professional fees ranges from Rs.1499 and upwards per trademark per class. No Official fees] Timeline: 1 to 2 months from the date of filing your application.

Advertisement of the application in the journal is because any third party can oppose to the registration of your mark on several grounds. The most common one being that your mark is like their mark. Opposition proceedings are long and costly and could be avoided by following the right strategy before filing the application. Timeline: 4 months from the date of advertising the application.

Registration is granted in the absence of any opposition within 4 months from the date of advertisement. The registration is valid for a period of 10 years from the date of the application.  You should start using the ® symbol on your trademark immediately. Timeline: A week after expiry of the opposition period and in
the absence of any opposition.

Renewal of a trademark in India can be filed six months prior to its expiry date. The renewal grants another 10 year protection to your rights on your trademarks. [Professional fees range from Rs.1999 and upwards per trademark per class + Rs.9000/class as official fees per mark per class.]

Your brand is your most prized asset and trademark rights are perpetual. It should be carefully coined, protected, and maintained. When you decide to file for an application to register your trademark keep these in mind in choosing your service provider.

If you have something to add to this article or comment on the same feel free to comment below or reach out to me by email.

Original content of the above blog can be read at: https://selvams.com/blog/steps-involved-costs-register-trademark-india/

The Controller of Patents, Designs and Trademarks through a public notice dated November 19, 2015 brought to the notice of the public the draft of the Trademarks Amendment Rules, 2015 proposing to amend the Trademark Rules, 2002 and had invited comments from the public and stakeholders within 30 days from the date the notification published in the official gazette of India. At last, the Trademarks Rules, 2017  came into effect on March 06, 2017 with several changes ranging from increase in official fees, discount for online filing of trademark applications, hearing through video conferencing, maintaining a list for well-known trademarks among other things.

While this post will cover only the amendments with respect to startups and small enterprises (SME’s) you may also check out posts from my colleagues in respect of the journey of the trademark office from paper filing to digital, practical aspects of the online trademark filing system, increase in the official fees to an extent of 125% and changes in the rules in general and the reduction of the number of the trademark forms.

The new rules offer 50% discount on the official fees for startups and SME’s (small and medium enterprises) with respect to filing an application for registration of a trademark and for expedited processing of an application for registration of a trademark. Filing an application for registration of a trademark is Rs. 5000 (Paper Filing) / Rs. 4500 (e-filing and expedited processing of an application for registration of a trademark is Rs. 20000 (e-filing only)

The applicant should be recognized as a startup by the competent authority under the Startup India initiative. To qualify as a small enterprise, the applicant’s investment in plants and machinery alone should not exceed ten crore rupees if the applicant is a manufacturer. However, if the applicant is a service provider, the investment in equipment in general should not exceed five crore rupees.

Unlike the Indian Patent Amendment Rules, 2016 where the applicant being a startup/individual/SME enjoys discounted costs for the entire life of a patent application and even subsequently thereafter, in respect of renewal of the patent, the Trademark Rules, 2017 has limited the discounts with regard to Startups/Individuals/SME’s only filing and expedited examination of the trademark application.

The other amendment that startups might find useful is the ability to request amendment of the specification of goods and services in the event of them being wrongly classified at the time of filing the application. On several occasions, entrepreneurs and applicants file applications on their own or using a low-cost filing service provider which may not have an experienced lawyer to classify the specifications of goods and services. When the trademark office raises objections on erroneous classification, the only option earlier was to file a fresh application or delete the specifications objected by the examiner. However, the amendment now provides for splitting the classification and adding new classes to the present application. This will save the applicant from losing time and priority by filing a new trademark application.

Original content of the above blog can be read at: https://selvams.com/blog/trade-marks-rules-2017-means-startups-smes/

Does a failed entrepreneur exist? Because no one ever introduced themselves to me as a failed one! An entrepreneur does not take risks, he manages risks. An entrepreneur would find the strengths and opportunities in accordance to the area where the business opportunity is identified therefore the idea behind our entrepreneur is not formulaic.

Social entrepreneurship

In case of social entrepreneurship the problems often identified and discussed on forums are of limited liability for the ‘social entrepreneur’ and unlimited liability for the already impoverished community. In India, social entrepreneurship is ashamed of a success rate of 3%. Grassroots interventionists shirk from taking active initiatives or even providing inspiration because of the lack of knowledge on business management, development strategies and local economy analysis. The core motive of the interventionist tends to dwindle because it lies in a vulnerable place in the community and stems from the daily battle for economic betterment.

Therefore, with the investment of only the time of the self-sacrificing interventionist, not his own philanthropy (read capital) nor the risk or credit of the gravely indebted farmers, one may find social entrepreneurship to be a rising challenge for the handicapped interventionist.

Entrepreneurship in agriculture

Agriculture is not just about good agriculture anymore; it is about more complex avenues for developing agriculture, which requires entrepreneurial abilities to corroborate already existing systems and dissuade them from dependence on farm income.

The major enterprising skills as well as market linkages can identify agriculture and to some extent semi-processing units within the rural sector which can further lead to forward linkages in the rural non-farm sector, thus luring trade related commerce to be on the rise. This is only a certainty if agricultural credit is available to the farmers. However the scope for saving and availing credit for the farmer is a large potential goldmine for money creation in the rural areas, as the ability and willingness to repay for the farmer is very high, provided they are organized.

The reason behind this seemingly distorted analogy about the willingness of the farmer to repay is the more obvious willingness to grow and be more closely associated with the bank that gives interests to the farmers at a lower rate than the local money lender. Thus using the mainstay of the rural economy which is agriculture to spur the rural non-farm sector, it will also help increase the agricultural productivity.

The existing dual economies

The dual economy model does draw sweeping conclusions which may not be applicable to all developing countries alike. But take for instance in case of Maharashtra where it is of great use to observe a dual economy, with the financial capital of the country- your very own Bombay as well as the highest levels of malnourishment in the country- Nandurbar district being just a few 100 kilometres apart. There is a greater emphasis on enhancing the capabilities of the village.

The scope for Social entrepreneurship is immense but the risk isn’t that of the interventionists, it is to a large extent that of the community involved. A community so scared of risk that a lifetime of drudgery and servitude seems better than the effort invested in trying to find a way out!

About the author: Ishani Tikku, has studied M.A. Social work in Rural Development at Tata Institute of Social Sciences and is now working with the Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Mission