Trademark Objection Reply

OVERVIEW

What is Trademark Examination Report?

The trademark application process comprises several stages, among which the Examination by Registry is a critical one. An assigned official scrutinizes the application to ensure its accuracy and adherence to the Trade Marks Act and its Rules. Upon examination, an evaluation report is produced, incorporating the examiner's observations. If the application doesn't contravene any rules or infringe upon existing trademarks, it advances to the publication stage in the Journal. However, if any discrepancies are discovered, the examiner raises an objection and notifies the applicant or their attorney to provide a rebuttal explaining why the application should progress to the subsequent phase. Failure to respond may result in the application being abandoned, necessitating the applicant to submit a rejoinder to the examination report issued by the Registry.


BENEFITS

Why Trademark Objection Reply is necessary?

To Prevent Abandonment

To proceed to the next stage of the trademark registration process, it is compulsory to respond to the examination report. Neglecting to submit a response to the trademark objection report within one month of its dispatch will result in the abandonment of the entire TM application.

Establish your Mark's Distinctiveness

The trademark objection reply letter enables the applicant to justify why their mark should be registered. By responding to the report in writing, one can argue that the objections raised do not apply to the TM application and highlight the mark's unique characteristics.


Respond to Examination in 3 Easy Steps

1. Answer Quick Questions
  • Pick a Package that best fits your requirements
  • Provide us the Application No. & Examination Report issued for your TM
  • Know about the grounds raised by Registry
  • Make payment through secured payment gateways
2. Experts are Here to Help
  • Assigned Relationship Manager
  • Consultation for examination and search report
  • Drafting of reply to examination report
  • Filing of Reply online by Registered Attorney
3. Your Reply is Submitted!
  • All it takes is 4 working days*
*Subject to Government processing time

Procedure of filing Reply to Examination report

DAY 1 - Consultation
  • Collection of basic Information
  • Consultation for grounds of objection raised by the examiner
  • Discussing the suitable responses to the examination report
DAY 2-3 - Execution
  • Drafting of response by Experienced Lawyers
DAY 4 - Submission
  • Filing of TM Objection Reply by online

Explore Trademark Examination and Objection

Frequently Asked Questions


When the examiner raises some objections regarding the registrability of your trademark it is said to be objected. To overcome the objections, a written response needs to be filed with the Trade Mark Registry. If the Examiner is not convinced with the written response, a hearing is scheduled for allowing arguments to be put forth in person.

When the Examination report is issued by objecting the registration, a written reply needs to be submitted that gives sufficient justification and clarifications regarding a trademark’s distinctiveness and registrability. If the filed response satisfies the examiner, the mark would be published in the journal.

The status of the Trademark Application is required to be tracked from time to time by the applicant in order to stay updated. When the examination report is issued, the status of the application is changed to “Objected” with alert “Awaiting Reply to Examination Report”. Link for tracking the status: http://ipindiaonline.gov.in/eregister/eregister.aspx

No, the applicant of the trademark does not need to stop using the ™ sign. By way of issuing the Examination Report, the Registry does not compel to stop the applicant from using the ™ sign beside the Brand Name or Logo.

The response to the examination report issued by the Trademark Registry is required to be filed within 1 month from the date of dispatch. However, the Registry accepts the response even after the stated period is passed. One may submit the reply till the status of the application shows the alert of “Awaiting Reply to Examination Report” and not “abandoned”.

Once the Trademark objection reply is duly filed by the registered attorney, the reply will also be displayed on tracking the application status. Further, the alert “Pending for Reply” or “Awaiting Reply to Examination Report” will be removed from the application status on the TM website. The status would still be “objected” as the processing from the Registry would be pending.

The Trademark Registry normally takes 6 to 8 months to process, verify and review the reply filed with the registrar.

The show cause notice for hearing is issued in very exceptional cases, where the trademark applied is very similar to any other applicant or examiner is not satisfied with the reply filed along with the supporting grounds.

The application, when it is accepted by the Registry, is published in a journal for a period of 4 months and is open for the opposition by the Third Party. After completion of 4 months, where no opposition by the third party is received, the Registration Certificate of the trademark is issued by the Registry.