Trademark

Overview on Cost of Trademark Registration

calendar07 Dec, 2020
timeReading Time: 5 Minutes
Cost of Trademark

A Trademark is a branch of Intellectual Property Rights which aims to protect the owner of the goods and services from infringement. It includes words, name or sign which differentiates goods from the goods of other enterprises. A Trademark is a helping tool for the marketing of the goods and makes it easier for the owners as well as the customers, and increases financing of the businesses.

The Cost of Trademark can be divided between government fees and professional fees. The previous is fixed no matter where in India you are whereas the later one will depend upon the Trademark attorneys[1]. Paying too much to any professional to register your trademark can seem like a misuse of time & money but if you didn’t get the right direction at the beginning then you may end up spending much more.

What does Trademark Provides in terms of Exclusive Rights and Claims?

A Trademark provides owner with the exclusive rights to use in any desired manner or to permit others to use it by accepting payment. But, if an owner wants to prevent its trademark from being used illegally, he/she has to register their trademark, so that upon infringement he/she may obtain relief.

Any person who claims to be the owner of the goods and services has to pertain in writing to the apt registrar in an approved manner. The application should contain the name of the goods, mark or services, class of goods & services, name and address of the candidate and duration of use of the trademark. A registrar can be a person appointed by Central Government by declaring it in the official gazette.

Types of fees for Trademark Registration

Types of fees for Trademark Registration

Government Fees

Application for Trademark Registration or Collective Mark or Certification Mark or Series of trademark for arrangement of goods & services included in one or more than one classes.

For Individual or Startup or Small Enterprise

  1. Physical filing- 5000
  2. E-Filing- 4500

In all Other Cases 

Note: Fee is for each class and for each mark

  1. Physical filing- 10,000
  2. E-filing- 9000

Cost of Trademark for a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC)

The Trademark Registry charges INR 4000 per application. If you’re registering for logo & brand name separately, it will be counted as two application form. If the brand name is enlisted within the logo and it’s all you need to register, it will be a single application. You are required to pay by the number of classes you are registering your trademark in.

Professional Fee

You are required to pay the professional fees for Trademark Registration. Professional fees are to be paid because the trademark lawyer does the trademark search on your behalf. Intellectual property attorneys are knowledgeable with the database of trademark and they will be able to inform you whether the name or logo is available. It is significant because if the government raises an objection you will end up paying a lot more money.

Trademark Objection or Opposition

Opposition proceedings

Upon publication of the trademark application in the Trademarks Journal, the application is open for opposition by third parties. Opposition to registration of a trademark may be filed by any person within a period of three months from the date of such publication of the trademark in the journal. This period may be extended by one month, at the discretion of the Registrar, provided the opponent files the extension request. The Act also provides that an opposition to registration of a trademark may be filed by any person whether he has a personal interest.

Rules 47 to 57 provide for detailed law and procedure in respect of opposition proceedings and must be kept in mind while dealing with such proceedings. The opponent must set out a case on the basis of grounds for opposing the trademark application. The opponent is at liberty to set up any ground to support his opposition, provided that such ground is based on a provision of law. Grounds that may be taken in an opposition proceeding includes:

Grounds under Section 9 of Trademark Act, 1999

An opponent can on the basis of the facts of the case take any of the grounds enumerated in section 9. Some of the grounds are that the mark is not capable of being represented graphically or is devoid of distinctive character or descriptive to the trade or the mark is of such nature as to deceive the public. It causes confusion as the mark contains or comprises matters that can hurts religious susceptibilities or comprises of scandalous or obscene matter or its use is prohibited under the Emblems Act.

If the mark is exclusive of a shape of goods then it will results from the nature of the goods. The mark alleged to be constituted by the shape of goods is necessary to obtain the technical result or the mark alleged to be constituted by the shape of goods gives substantial value to the goods.

Section 11: Prior Rights of the Opponents

The ground under section 11 is based mostly upon the prior rights of the opponents. In case the opponent has Trademark registration then the details of the registration must be mentioned in the Notice of Opposition stating that the trademark is identical or similar to a registered trademark. In respect of identical or similar goods or services or if it is identical or similar to a well-known trademark then law of passing off can be put in case of  violation of trademark.

Section 18 – Falsified Claims

If the applicant’s claim to ownership of the trademark is false or applicant’s claim to utilization of the mark is false or the applicant has no bona fide intention to use the mark in respect of all the goods & services for which registration is to be sought. A number of other grounds can also be considered which are subject to absolute refusal.

Cost of Trademark Objection

The government can raise an objection to your application for a various reasons but in case of objection it is due to similarity in name of an existing application or registration. At present if there is an objection the registrar will not charge, but you are required to pay the trademark lawyer to get the objection removed. The fees of Lawyer will depend on the complication in the case, but generally it’s not more than INR 5000.

Cost of Trademark Opposition

Trademark Opposition is lot more complicated than Trademark Objection. Basically trademark opposition is an objection raised by another business other than the government. It typically states that a competitor or any other business considers that your trademark application negotiates its rights. This consists of numerous meetings with the Trademark Registrar & end up costing you more legal fees. For the first affidavit you have to pay at least INR 8,000 to INR 10,000.

Conclusion

You should plan out your budget whenever you want to apply for a new trademark application as the cost of trademark registration. If you do not have a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC), then you must apply for a new one as early as possible. Simultaneously, you need to be prepared to pay the cost of trademark to the service provider who is going to handle all the process of trademark application.

Read our article: Shedding Light on E-Registration of Trademark

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