In continuation of our previous post on the draft Trade Marks (Amendment Rules) 2015 issued by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry on November 19, 2015, here’s the latest update on the proposed amendments.

Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, today in a written reply to the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Parliament) stated that the Government has proposed to replace the existing Trade Marks Rules 2002 by the Trade Marks (Amendment) Rules, 2015. The following have been highlighted as the major changes to be introduced by the Trade Marks (Amendment) Rules, 2015:

  1. The number of Trade Marks Forms are proposed to be reduced. (Currently we wade through 78 forms)
  2. It is proposed that all out dated and redundant provisions in the existing Trade Marks Rules shall be removed.
  3. The fee for electronic filing will proposedly be lesser (10% lesser) than that of physical filing. This is to encourage and promote e-filing of trademark applications and other related forms.Indian_Trademark_Fees_Increase
  4. Introduction of electronic means as mode of service of documents between the Applicants and the Registry in order to expedite the process.
  5. The existing Trade Marks Rules incorporate provisions for expediting the processing of an application for trademark registration only up to the examination stage. The new Amendment Rules propose on extending these provisions for expedite processing up to the registration stage.
  6. Introduction of modalities for determination and maintenance of the list of well-known trademarks.
  7. Simplified procedures regarding registration of Registered Users of Trademark.
  1. The registration fees for filing of trade mark applications to be increased. The proposed fee hike as notified in the First Schedule of Trade Marks (Amendment) Rules, 2015 shall be finalized after consideration of suggestions/ comments received from the public and stakeholders.

The Registrar of Trade Marks shall be assigned with Duties and Rights as per the provisions of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and the Rules made thereunder from time-to-time.

At present we do not have information as to when the above amendments will come into force. However considering that the same was mentioned in the Parliament yesterday we can expect the notification giving effect to the amendments very soon.