How to Register a Trademark in India

What Can and Cannot Be Registered

Almost any sign capable of distinguishing your goods or services and of being represented graphically can be a trademark: a word, an invented term, a logo, a label, a numeral, a combination of colours, the shape of goods, packaging, or even a sound. The single most important quality the Registrar looks for is distinctiveness. A mark that is inherently distinctive, such as a coined word, sails through far more easily than one that merely describes the product.

The two big reasons applications are refused are set out in the Act as absolute grounds (Section 9) and relative grounds (Section 11). Absolute grounds knock out marks that are descriptive, generic, customary in trade, or deceptive. So a word like "Crispy" for biscuits or "Fresh" for juice is hard to register because every competitor legitimately needs those words. Relative grounds knock out marks that are identical or deceptively similar to an earlier mark or application in the same or allied class. This is why the search at the very start of the process matters so much.

Before You File: Search and Strategy

The steps listed alongside this guide begin with a public search, and it is worth understanding why that step carries so much weight. A proper search is not just typing your exact brand name into the IP India database. You are looking for phonetically similar marks, visually similar logos, and marks with similar meaning, across your class and allied classes. A name that "sounds available" to you may collide with a registered mark spelled differently but pronounced the same, and the Registrar treats deceptive similarity, not identity, as the test.

Investing an hour in this step changes everything downstream. If you discover a conflict early, you can adjust the name or the logo before you have spent money, attached it to packaging, or built customer recall. If you skip it, you risk an examination objection, a third-party opposition, or worst of all an infringement notice months after launch when rebranding is painful and expensive.

Strategy also means deciding who the applicant should be. A trademark can be owned by an individual, a sole proprietor, a partnership, an LLP, or a company. Owning it in the name of the operating entity keeps brand and business together, which matters for valuation and future investment. If you register through WeeDoo, this is exactly the kind of choice we help you get right before a single form is submitted.

Understanding the Costs

The government fee is fixed by the First Schedule to the Trade Marks Rules, 2017, and has been stable since then. For e-filing it is ₹4,500 per class for an individual, a startup recognised by DPIIT, or a small enterprise holding a valid Udyam (MSME) registration, and ₹9,000 per class for everyone else, including most companies and LLPs. Physical filing costs ₹500 more per class, so online filing is both cheaper and faster. Remember that the fee is per class, not per application: a two-class filing doubles the government fee even though it is one form.

Two optional costs are worth knowing about. If you need speed, expedited examination under the Rules can compress the wait to the examination report dramatically, but it carries a much higher government fee, in the region of ₹20,000 to ₹40,000 per class depending on applicant category, as of 2026. Separately, professional or attorney fees sit on top of the government fee and vary widely with the complexity of the mark, whether objections arise, and whether opposition has to be defended. Budget for the possibility of an examination response or a hearing rather than assuming the cheapest, frictionless path.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Skipping or rushing the search. Filing on a name that conflicts with an existing mark is the single most expensive mistake, because you may lose both the fee and the brand equity built in the meantime.
• Choosing a descriptive mark. Names that simply describe the product feel marketable but are weak in law and frequently objected to under Section 9. Distinctive, invented marks protect better.
• Filing in too few classes. Protection is class-bound. Map every current and near-future product and service line and file accordingly rather than leaving gaps a competitor can exploit.
• Wrong applicant or category. Registering the mark in a founder's personal name when the business is a company, or claiming the MSME fee without a valid certificate, creates problems for ownership, valuation, and fee compliance.
• Ignoring the examination report deadline. Missing the response window can lead to the application being treated as abandoned, forcing you to start over and pay again.
• Treating ® as available before registration. Using the ® symbol on an unregistered mark is an offence under the Act. Use TM until the certificate issues.