If you have newly commenced your business, then you should apply for trademark registration online and also fulfill some legal obligations. Trademark is a symbol, phrase, design, or logo of a business representing the uniqueness of a product. It is an Intellectual Property of the business safeguarding the brand image. In this article, you will understand the complete procedure of trademark registration for startups.
Procedure for Trademark Registration for Startups
Do intensive Research for the Trademark
To ensure that your trademark is not similar to any other registered trademark, you should do research. You can visit the official website of IP India and enter the wordmark, tagline, color mark, class along with the description of the goods.
Choosing a class for your products
Different trademarks are provided to different types of goods and services and hence you should choose a class for your product. Following are the trademark classes for certain goods and products:
Class 25- For a cloth merchant
Class 9- Allocated to the service providers of electronic and computer programming
A complete list of different classes for Trademark Registration is available at – Trademark Class
Application Preparation and Documentation process
To register trademark in India, you should fill out form TM-I along with certain fees and documents. In the form, you should mention the permanent allotment number given by the registry within two days. The documents required for filing are ID proof, Power of Attorney, Board Resolution, Address Proof, Name of the applicant, Business type, etc.
You can find the complete document requirement at – documents required for trademark registration in India
Submission of the form to the Trademark Registry
After submitting the TM-1 form and documents to the Trademark Registry, the Presiding Officer of the Register Office examines the form to ensure that it is error-free and the trademark is unique.
Inspection by the Trademark Registrar
If your trademark is approved by the verifying officer, then it is published in the Trademark Journal.
Important Note: You can save a significant amount of government trademark registration fees through MSME Registration. MSME Registration provides subsidies on Patent Registration and Trademark Registration.
Importance of Trademark registration for startups
Legal protection
It helps in protecting the Intellectual property of the business. If someone uses your trademark, then you can file a lawsuit against them.
Increases profitability of the firm
The buyers are often fascinated by the attractive design of the logo or colored texts and are impelled to buy the products. The importance of Brand Logo Designing by Professional Designer is significant especially in today’s digital age.
Increased Goodwill and brand image
You can portray the unique characteristics of the product by designing an attractive logo, design, or text and increase popularity.
Reasons for rejection of Trademark Registration
- If your form contains incorrect name, details, or incomplete information, then the Trademark Registering sends a notice within 30 days.
- If the trademark is similar to any other registered trademark, then the verifying officer rejects the form. Then, you should quickly draft a response to the objection and resubmit the form.
- If the form is accepted, then it is sent for registration. Even after resubmitting, your trademark is rejected, and then you should provide clarifications to the examiners. You should wait for 2 to 4 months for approval of the trademark is sometimes rejected because it contains geographical or religious names that hurt the sentiments of other people.
In case of rejection, you might need to apply for Trademark Objection Reply Online or TM Formality Check Fail or Trademark Hearing depending on the type of rejection.
Moreover, you require any kind of guidance related to Trademark Registration. Please feel free to contact us at 8881-069-069.
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