How to Respond to the Registrar on an Objection to the Trademark

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At the time of registration of a trademark, any individual or the Trademark Registry may raise an objection for Trademark Registration. The stage of trademark objection is one of the most crucial stage and needs to be handled carefully and with utmost caution. For this, a strong reply must be drafted for the query which has been raised. Generally, examiner raise objections if he/she is not satisfied with your trademark application.

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We strongly recommend you to hire a trademark expert/lawyer at Legal Window or any such professional who have rich experience in handling trademark objections along with strong drafting skills required to file a strong trademark objection reply.

What is Trademark Objection?

Respond to the Registrar on an Objection to the Trademark.

A Trademark Objection arises after you file an application for registration of your particular trademark. Such objection can be raised by the Registrar/Examiner or any other third party on the basis of their finding during the examination procedure on certain grounds. As soon as your trademark is objected, the status of your trademark in the Indian Trademark Registry website will show as “Objected”.

Reasons for Trademark Objection

The following can be the reasons due to which your trademark get objected:

  • Wrong details in Trademark Application Form: If the application contains of any incorrect or wrong information which relates to the name of the applicant, class of trademark or principal place of business etc.
  • Incomplete or Wrong form filed for Trademark: The Examiner/Registrar will object if the form filed for a trademark has incorrect information or is incomplete. For example, if the Trademark application is filed through any attorney or agent, Form TM-48 shall be filed for the same, without which the application for trademark will not be taken further.
  • Identical or similar mark/logo : If the Logo or trademark is too similar or identical or to a trademark which is already registered.
  • Lack of distinctiveness: If a mark or logo causes dilemma and does not help the final customer in the identifying particular goods and services.
  • False description of goods and services: Filing a trademark application with false or misleading information in regard to any product or service for which trademark is filed.
  • Using Offensive words: If the logo or trademark consists of any word or image which is offensive will not be processed further.

What to do if the online status of your Trademark Registration Application shows as “objected”?

While checking the online status of your Trademark application on the official website of the Trademark Registrar, you might come across with the status of your application as “objected”. What to do at that time? First of all, You should not get panic and must follow the below simple steps:

  • First of all, contact a Trademark expert legal consultancy. Legal Window is one of the experienced Legal Consultancy Organization for handling trademark related matters.
  • We will study the examination report and the objection raised and will respond if the objections are tenable or not
  • The response or the reply to the examination report must be given within the time period of 2 months from the date of receiving such report, else your application will be deemed as abandoned.
  • The reply to the trademark objection must be clear, competent and strong enough to establish the distinctiveness of your trademark, proving its eligibility for trademark registration.

Trademark Opposition Reply

Benefits of Immediate reply to Trademark Objection

Filling of Trademark Objection Reply Letter immediately or quickly with the Trademark Registrar along with evidences and supporting documents has several benefits. Some of them are as follows:

  • Your existing application will not be abandoned or rejected which will ultimately save your time and efforts while applying for a trademark, else you need to reapply from the start.
  • The application can be considered for further processing if a timely response is filed.
  • If the reply or response made is defined and stated well with complete accuracy, the chances of its registration become more bright.
  • Generally, many companies starts using the trademark once it applied, thus it depicts the bad and negative influence on customers if in case it gets rejected. Therefore, it is highly advisable to make a prompt reply to objection raised and save the same for further processing.

How to file reply of Trademark Objection?

If the trademark is objected, its status on the website of Indian Trademark Registry will show as “objected”. Post this, you or your attorney need to analyze the objection and follow the below steps to reply the objected trademark:

  • Draft the reply of Trademark objection in properly signed and attested letter.The reply letter shall include the following important points:
  • State proper answer to objection or query raised which shall be framed in a legal manner. The reply must be supported with proper rule of law and judgments made in relevant case laws.
  • An affidavit must be provided supporting the usage of the trademark on the applicant’s social media handles and its official websites.
  • If reply is accepted by the Examiner/Registrar, the application will be further processed for its registration. However, if the application is still not accepted or the examiner sought for additional clarification, a hearing for trademark will be scheduled.
  • If a hearing is scheduled, then you need to Appear to the hearing along with the following supporting documents
  • Authorization letter by attorney on behalf of its client
  • Affidavit
  • Examination report of the examiner
  • Notice of Trademark hearing
  • Other relevant supporting documents
  • The further procedure depends upon the conclusion of of hearing. If the outcome of hearing is in your favor and positive, your proposed trademark will be accepted and will be directed for publication in Trademark Journal. On the other hand, if the outcome of hearing is negative , the Registrar will issue refusal orders.
  • Once the trademark is published in Trademark Journal, it remains opened for 3-4 months for any opposition.
  • In case no opposition is received, the authority will issue a registration certificate for such trademark.

Wrapping Up

For people who doesn’t have legal knowledge related to filing aspects of trademark reply, it can be a tedious task and inconvenient to approach the Registrar to fight on any objection received from the side of authority. However, you can simply reach the professional experts at Legal Window who will draft a legal trademark objection reply on your behalf after analyzing each and every aspect with regard to the objection received. Hence, To avoid any kind of trademark objection, it is wise to hire a lawyer at the beginning of the trademark registration procedure itself which in turn will save your time, money and brand.

 

CA Pulkit Goyal, is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) having 10 years of experience in the profession of Chartered Accountancy and thorough understanding of the corporate as well as non-corporate entities taxation system. His core area of practice is foreign company taxation which has given him an edge in analytical thinking & executing assignments with a unique perspective. He has worked as a consultant with professionally managed corporates. He has experience of writing in different areas and keep at pace with the latest changes and analyze the different implications of various provisions of the act.

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