How to Register a Logo in India

By virtue of offering superb, responsible, and expeditious legal services for all categories of intellectual property, and all other major and most significant disciplines of the law to Indian and global clients, ours prestigious and fast thriving law firm of India is now famous and reputed worldwide. At international level, ours expert and impeccable services for registration and protection of trademarks and logos are extended flawlessly and fully responsibly as per the rules, provisions, and regulations of the TRIPS Agreement of WTO, Berne Convention (modified in Paris), the Madrid Protocol of WIPO, and the European Community Trademark (CTM). In this lavish and immensely beneficial web article, presented is the full gamut of information regarding how to register a logo in india, for doing a widely prominent, hugely popular, and maximally profitable business in any cherished economic field, anywhere in India or countries abroad.

A Logo is nothing but a hugely popular form of a trademark, and is very striking and effective for distinguishing product or service of a company from that of other companies active in the same marketplace, and also for representing dignity and vision of the concerned company in the national or international markets. Therefore, logos are preferably used by companies, firms, and organizations, which are active in various fields of the sectors of business and commerce, manufacturing and industries, professions, and services.

A Logo could be any visual symbol, sign, wordmark, or indication, which is elegant enough to provide unique identity and quality assurance to any product or service of the related business, professional, or service entity, and at the same time, represent strikingly the ingenuity and reputation of the company. Some shining examples of a logo are --- Coca-Cola, Bass red triangle, IBM, Red Cross, etc. In general, the logos can be purely graphic in design or presentation (such as symbols, icons, etc.), or any ideograms (signs), or logotypes (some written names or letters), or even a combination of any two or all of these categories. However, for doing international businesses ideograms and symbols are much more elegant and effective than the logotypes (which could be in any national languages). For example, a logotype in Arabic language is expected to be less effective in the American or European markets.

Since a logo can pertain to any field of business and commerce, industries, professions, or services sectors, the classification of logos is essential for its distinct identity, for the purposes of logo registration, opposition, renewal, or protection against infringement. Again, as logos are immensely prominent forms of the trademarks and service marks, the classification of the trademarks and service marks also applies to logos belonging to all economic fields. In the Fourth Schedule to the Indian new Trade Marks Rules of 2002, given is the classification list of the trademarks and service marks, which is in complete harmony with the International Classification of goods and services. The total number of classes in this (Indian) classification list is 45 (forty-five); out of these 11 (eleven) pertain to service marks, and the remaining classes relate with trademarks in various economic fields. For instance, a logo relating to any medical and surgical equipments and instruments is assigned the class-10; and similarly, a logo pertaining to the hospitality services of hotels and restaurants is given the class-43, for distinguished identification.

Filing Application for Logo Registration in India

The essential tasks to be completed before filing an application for logo registration in india, in any part of the country are – Logo Creation, Logo Search within India, preparing application for logo registration, and filing the same with any zonal trademarks office of the country. The choice of any regional trademark registry office, depends on the location of the applicant company or firm. As India is a vast country, there are as much as Five Trademark Registry Offices located in Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, and Ahmedabad, which govern, supervise, and control registrations of trademarks and logos in strict accordance with the rules and regulations given in the federal trademark law of India, which is represented by the new Trade Marks Act of 1999 and the Trade Marks Rules of 2002. Each of these zonal trademark offices has a well-defined jurisdictional area which covers many nearby States and union territories, besides the State it is situated in.

Ours internationally renowned, well-experienced, and innovative trademark lawyers have been supporting clients belonging to almost all economic fields in creation of their most elegant, scintillating, and cherished logos, for the purposes of optimal publicity, popularity, and profitability in the Indian and global markets. The main and exclusive purpose of the Logo Search is to verify that the newly created logo is entirely different and unique from all logos in the Prior Art in India, and also that the newly invented logo does not infringe upon any of these previously registered and filed (pending) logos of other people and entities. Therefore, logo search and logo infringement analysis are essential for the newly created logo to be readily acceptable for proper and perfect registration.

Procedure for Logo Registration

The application for logo registration in india is made through the Form TM-1. The most important and recommended documents and particulars to be associated with this form are the following – the logo registration fee of INR-3,500/-; a soft copy of the newly created logo in JPEG format; information about the Class of the logo and the concerned product or service; detailed information about the name and address of the applicant company, or the trademark lawyer or agent; descriptive trade-related information about the applicant company or firm; power of attorney; class and date of the first usage of the proposed logo; priority documents (if any); etc.

After getting the flawlessly completed and filed logo registration application, the relevant zonal trademark office of India conducts comprehensive and censorious examination and document verification. After this process, if the office gets satisfied with the originality, perfectness, and uniqueness, of the filed logo for registration, then it published the proposed logo in the Indian Trade Marks Journal for a period of three months, to attract any possible objections to the registration of the proposed logo in India.

If no objection is raised by any of the owners or holders of all formerly registered and filed logos within this period, then the submitted logo is approved finally by the office for proper registration. But, if there have been raised many objections, then disposing of all discrepancies and allegations is made first (through discussions in presence of the applicant, opponents, and the members of the Opposition Board), before approving of rejecting the registration of the filed logo.

If the filed logo is fully original, entirely unique, and free of any infringement allegations, then the zonal trademark office takes a time-period of about one year, for granting the certificate of logo registration. But, if the submitted logo is defective and objectionable, then, a period of more than one year is certain to be elapsed for registration of the forwarded logo. Promptness in rectifying defects and quenching objections, will expedite the registration process then.

Any registered logo in India is recognized and protected initially for a period of ten years, which is counted from the date of its registration. For the purpose of extending the tenure of governmental recognition and protection, and availing the whole-range of trademark related rights, the concerned company must perform logo renewal well within the elapse of the initial ten-year period. The logo renewal is accomplished through Form TM-12 and paying the timely renewal fee of INR-5,000/- to the concerned regional trademark office. The surcharge for belated logo renewal is INR-3,000/-, which is remitted using the Form-10. Every logo renewal extends the validity and recognition of the logo for another 10-year period.