Govt slashes trade mark forms, e-filing fees

To promote ease of doing business, the government today cut the number of trade mark forms from 74 to just eight and nearly halved the fee for e-filing applications to Rs 4,500.
These changes were notified in the Trade Mark (TM) Rules, 2017.
"These rules, which replace the erstwhile Trade Mark Rules 2002, will streamline and simplify the processing of trade mark applications," the Commerce and Industry Ministry said in a statement.
It said the new rules should give a boost to the Intellectual Property Regime (IPR) in India.
"Based on stakeholders' feedback, the fees for individuals, start-ups and small enterprises have been reduced from that proposed in the draft rules -- only Rs 4,500 as against Rs 8,000 for e-filing of TM applications proposed at the draft stage," it said.

Other salient features of the revamped rules include keeping the fee for online filing at 10 per cent lower than that of the physical filings.

Hearing through video conferencing has been introduced and number of adjournments in opposition proceedings has been restricted to a maximum of two by each party, which will help dispose of matters in time, it added.
Modalities for service of documents from applicants to the registry and vice-versa through electronic means have been introduced to expedite the process, the statement said.
Further, the provisions relating to expediting processing of an application for registration of a trade mark have been extended right up to registration stage. Earlier, it was only up to examination stage.

The statement said that the examination time for a TM application had already been brought down from 13 months to just one in January.
This is despite a 35 per cent jump in TM filings in 2015- 16 as compared to the previous year.