Registering a Trademark in India
A step-by-step guide to the trademark process, with official fees
Aparna Pandharkar · Registered Patent Agent, IN/PA 5313
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Aparna Pandharkar · Registered Patent Agent, IN/PA 5313
A trademark is what tells your customers that a product or service is yours and not somebody else’s — a name, a logo, a label, a shape, even a combination of colours.
Registration is not compulsory. An unregistered mark that has been used in trade can still be protected by a passing off action. But registration gives you a statutory right you can enforce across India without first having to prove your reputation, and it is far cheaper to enforce than to litigate from scratch.
Any rupee amounts shown are the government (official) fees payable to the Trade Marks Registry. Fees are shown at the e-filing rate, which is how applications are filed in practice; filing on paper costs about 10% more.
Any amounts shown on this page are official government fees only — the statutory charges payable to the Trade Marks Registry. They are not the cost of the work.
Professional fees for the searching, filing, replying and appearing at each stage are charged separately and in addition. Please get in touch for a quote for your mark.
Before anything is filed, we search the Trade Marks Registry’s records for marks that are identical or deceptively similar to yours, in the classes that matter to your business. The search also covers marks that are pending but not yet registered, which a casual online check will usually miss.
This is the cheapest stage at which to discover a problem. Changing a name before launch costs a redesign; changing it after five years of trading costs the goodwill you built.
India follows the Nice Classification, which sorts everything into 45 classes — classes 1 to 34 for goods, and 35 to 45 for services. Your registration only protects you for what you actually claim, so the specification has to cover the business you run now and the business you can realistically see yourself running.
This decision drives the cost. The government fee is charged per class, per mark. A single word filed in three classes costs three times the fee of the same word in one class.
The application is filed on Form TM-A, with the representation of the mark, the class or classes, the specification of goods or services, and the date from which the mark has been used (or a statement that use is proposed). Once it is filed you receive an application number, and you can begin using the ™ symbol straight away.
To claim the lower fee as a startup or small enterprise, the supporting certificate — DPIIT recognition for a startup, or the Udyam registration for an MSME — has to go in with the application. It cannot be added afterwards to claim a refund.
The Registry first checks the paperwork, then examines the mark itself and issues an examination report. Objections come under two heads. Absolute grounds go to the mark itself — that it is descriptive, generic, or not capable of distinguishing your goods. Relative grounds go to conflict — that it is identical or deceptively similar to an earlier mark on the register.
An examination report is normal and is not a refusal. Most applications get one.
The reply has to answer each objection on its merits: distinguishing the cited marks, narrowing the specification where that helps, or filing evidence that the mark has acquired distinctiveness through use. Evidence of use — invoices, advertising, turnover figures, dated packaging — carries real weight here, so it is worth keeping those records from day one.
The 30-day period matters. An application that goes unanswered can be treated as abandoned.
Where the Registry is not satisfied by the written reply, it appoints a show cause hearing. These are usually conducted by video conference. The mark is argued before the Hearing Officer, who then either accepts the application, accepts it subject to conditions or a limitation, or refuses it.
An accepted mark is advertised in the Trade Marks Journal, which the Registry publishes weekly and which anyone can read. Publication is what starts the opposition clock. Nothing is required from you at this stage beyond watching the date.
For four months from the date of advertisement, any person may file a notice of opposition on Form TM-O. If that happens the matter becomes contested: a counter-statement is due, then evidence by affidavit from both sides, then a hearing. An opposition adds a year or more to the timeline and is the single biggest variable in how long registration takes.
Most applications are never opposed. A good search at step 1 is the best protection against being the exception.
If no opposition is filed within the four months — or if an opposition is decided in your favour — the mark proceeds to registration and the certificate issues. From that point you may use the ® symbol, and you have an exclusive statutory right to the mark for the goods and services registered.
Registration runs for ten years from the date of application, not from the date the certificate arrives.
A trademark is the one intellectual property right with no natural expiry. Renew it on Form TM-R every ten years and it can be kept indefinitely — which is why the oldest registered marks in the world are well over a century old.
Miss the date and there is a grace period on payment of a surcharge, and beyond that a restoration procedure. Both cost more than renewing on time.
Government fees only, at e-filing rates. Currently showing: Individual, Startup or Small Enterprise.
| Stage | Fee |
|---|---|
| Trademark search | Nil |
| Filing the applicationForm TM-A · per class, per mark | ₹4,500 |
| Examination | Nil |
| Replying to the examination report | Nil |
| Show cause hearing (if required) | Nil |
| Journal advertisement | Nil |
| Opposition (if it happens)Form TM-O · per class · same for all applicants | ₹2,700 |
| Registration certificate | Nil |
| Typical total to registrationOne mark, one class, unopposed | ₹4,500 |
| Renewal, every 10 yearsForm TM-R · per class · same for all applicants | ₹9,000 |
You can use ™ from the day of filing, so the practical protection begins immediately. Registration itself is slower.
An application that draws no objection and no opposition can reach registration in roughly 8 to 18 months. One that draws an examination report, a hearing, or an opposition takes considerably longer — an opposed application running to a full hearing can take three years or more.
About these figures. The fees shown are the official fees prescribed in the First Schedule to the Trade Marks Rules, 2017, as published by the Trade Marks Registry. They are shown at e-filing rates; paper filing costs approximately 10% more. Fees are revised from time to time — the amounts here were checked in August 2026, and we will confirm the current figures before any step is taken on your behalf. Professional fees are additional to all of the above.
This page is a general guide to the procedure and is not legal advice on any particular mark. Timelines other than statutory deadlines are indicative and depend on the class, the objections raised and the workload at the Registry. Please get in touch to discuss your mark.