The Indian Trademarks Office (TMO) today issued a pragmatic public notice regarding the automation of the entire process of generation and issuance of registration certificates. The notice states that from August 01, 2016 the entire process of generation and dispatch of registration certificates will be automated, in short the TMO will now issue only E-Registration Certificates.

As per the notice, all registration certificates will now be generated online and will be sent to the concerned applicant/authorised agent through email correspondence. Though sounds like a pretty straightforward procedure, but there are a few roadblocks as well. The notice lays down the following pre-requisites:

  • E-Registration Certificates shall only be issued for trademarks published in Trade Marks Journal 1720 and thereafter (that is all trademarks advertised on and after November 23, 2015)
  • Trademarks where no amendment requests are pending
  • Where a copy of the original application for registration of the trademark is available with the Trade Marks Registry’s electronic database
  • Where no requirements or compliances are pending, for instance- payment of requisite fees, power of attorney, association requests, etc.
  • Where the registration is not specifically prohibited under orders of any Court, IPAB or any other competent authority.

If a trademark application satisfies the above mentioned criteria, the registration certificate for the trademark will be generated automatically and sent to the concerned applicant/authorised agents on their respective email address. To this effect, the notice also requests the applicants/authorised agents to provide their valid email address to the concerned HO/Front Office counter at respective TMR Offices in Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

Additionally, the registration certificates will be uploaded on the Registry’s website along with the online status of the trademark application, which can be downloaded and printed as per the applicant/authorised agent’s convenience.

The trademark applications that do not comply or satisfy any one or more of the requisites will be processed as per the ongoing procedure at the Registration wing of the Examination Publication and Registration Section of the TMR Mumbai office on case to case basis.

Go-Green

From paper applications to comprehensive e-filing system, and now to E-Registration Certificates, seems like the Indian Trademarks Office is going all eco-friendly and technophile. So far, the Indian Trademarks Office has been dispatching physical copies of the registration certificates to the applicants/authorised agents through post. In addition to just saving paper, E-Registration Certificates will also come in as a handy, quicker and economical system given the cut of costs on dispatches of registration certificates through post.

A major break-through

The automation of the process of generating and transmitting registration certificates online is a welcoming initiative by the Indian Trademarks Office. It will not only assist the Registry to clear the back log of files, but will also encourage more national and international trademark filings. Comprehensive E-Filing, stringent compliance of deadline dates, E-Registration Certificates, sounds like the perfect ingredients for a healthy and flourishing trademark system in India. Hopeful to witness quicker processing of files as well in near future.

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