How we work on your matter

A registered agent listens to what you want to protect and why: the brand, invention or work, how and where you use it, and any deadline you are working to. You do not need documents for this conversation.

You will know by the end of the call what the next step is and what we need from you for it.

For a trademark, we search the IP India records for identical and similar marks and send you the result in writing:

• the earlier marks that matter, and the risk each one poses;
• the classes that cover your goods or services;
• the applicant category that applies to you;
• what we recommend, including changes to the mark where they would help.

For a patent, a patentability search looks at prior art before you spend on drafting. For copyright and designs, we confirm what can be protected and in whose name.

Before anything is filed, we confirm in writing what we will do, the government fee from the official schedule, and our professional fee. Nothing is filed until you approve it.

Examination replies, hearings and oppositions are part of the engagement, and the written scope sets out how each is handled.

We draft the application, you review and sign it, and we file it online with the office. You receive the application number the same day.

For a trademark, you may use ™ with the mark from the day the application is filed. The ® symbol may be used only once the mark is registered.

The office examines the application and may raise objections in an examination report. For trademarks these are usually under section 9 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 (for example, that the mark is descriptive or not distinctive) or section 11 (that it conflicts with an earlier mark).

We draft and file the reply with the arguments and evidence the objection calls for. If the office lists a hearing, a named professional appears for you. For patents, the reply to the First Examination Report follows the same approach. See objection replies and FER replies.

Once a trademark application is accepted, it is advertised in the Trade Marks Journal. For four months from the date of advertisement, anyone may oppose it.

We watch that window for you. If an opposition is filed, we prepare and file your response and evidence, and represent you through the proceedings. See trademark opposition.

If no opposition is filed, or an opposition is decided in your favour, the mark is registered and the certificate is issued. From then on you may use ®.

An application that meets no objection or opposition usually reaches registration in about 8 to 18 months from filing. We send you the certificate together with the date your renewal falls due.

A trademark registration lasts ten years from the date of application and can be renewed for further ten-year periods without limit. We record the renewal date of every mark we register and remind you well before it falls due, then file Form TM-R on your instruction. See trademark renewal.

By WhatsApp and email, at each change in status on IP India: filing, examination, any hearing, acceptance, publication, registration and renewal. Each update says what has changed and whether anything is needed from you.

You can also call the office during office hours and speak to the professional handling your matter.

What you tell us is used only for your matter. It is shared only with the office you file with and, for filings abroad, with our associate in that country.

Keep in mind that applications become public when the office publishes them, which is how the registers work. For an invention, we advise on timing so that nothing is disclosed before a filing protects it. See the privacy policy.

A named professional, a Registered Trade Marks Agent, patent agent or advocate, is responsible for your matter from the first call to the certificate, with a registration number you can verify. Meet the team.