March 16, 2017

India: Trade Mark (Amendment) Rules 2017 have come into effect

On March 6, 2017, amendments to Trade Mark Rules came into force followed by significant increase in trademark fees.

The new rules have reduced the number of trademark forms from 75 to 8: a single form has been implemented for requests related to each separate stage of the application lifecycle, i.e. filing, search, opposition, renewal, etc.

Another outstanding change is introduction of the “well-known trademarks” list maintained by the Indian IP Office, which provides brand owners with the opportunity of stronger protection of their famous trademarks and gives more chances to prevent registration of trademarks similar or identical to those included into the list. The fee for inclusion of a trademark into the list of well-known trademarks constitutes 1,00,000 INR (1,507 USD).

Applicants now also have the option of requesting expedited processing of the application. The application will be examined within 3 months from the filing date. Under the new Rules, expedition affects the whole registration procedure while under Trademark Rules 2002 only the examination stage could be accelerated. The option applies only to the applications filed online.

Trademark Rules 2017 introduce clear provisions as to registration of sound trademarks. Applicants should provide representation in MP3 format supported by musical notes.

As for the changes in trademark fees, the average increase rate constitutes around 100%. Thus, the trademark filing fee of 4,000 INR (60 USD) has been increased to 5,000 INR (75 USD) for natural persons, startups and small entities and 10,000 INR (150 USD) for other applicants for paper filing and to 4,500 INR (67 USD) and 9,000 INR (135 USD) correspondingly for e-filing. The fee for trademark renewal has been raised from 5,000 INR (75 USD) to 10,000 INR (150 USD) (paper filing) and 9,000 INR (146 USD) (e-filing). The late renewal fee now constitutes 5,000 INR (75 USD) (paper filing) and 4,500 INR (67 USD) (e-filing) instead of 3,000 INR (45 USD).

We have duly updated the system and welcome you to get an actual quote for registration of trademarks and other IP types in India or any other country of your interest.


Author: Lynda Miller

 

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