In 2014 the Trade Marks Office finished the job: every form prescribed by the Rules became filable online — including, unexpectedly, RTI applications. Written at the time, this note records what changed and what we hoped the Office would do with a ₹101 crore surplus.
What the upgrade covered
Following our earlier posts on the subject, the Indian Trade Marks Office’s upgrade brought the e-filing system to completeness — all the forms prescribed by the Trade Marks Rules could now be filed online.
The additions covered requests relating to the recordal, cancellation and other changes of a registered user (a licensee), requests for refusing or invalidating a trademark that consists of a Geographical Indication, trademark agent-related requests, several forms for extension of time for specific purposes, and assorted miscellaneous forms.
The interesting part: RTI online
Among the miscellaneous forms, the Office began accepting RTI (Right to Information) applications online. Until then, an RTI application had to be submitted on paper.
That is genuinely useful for lawyers filing RTI applications in volume — to check the status of clients’ marks, or simply to analyse the Office’s trends and workings. The RTI route has long been one of the few reliable ways to get information the Registry’s own records don’t surface.
A few oddities in the form were worth noting at the time. Symbols such as ”*”, ”#” and ”$” appeared beside particulars to be specified. Anyone used to online forms will read ”*” as a mandatory field; ”#” and ”$” were anybody’s guess.
The form also let the applicant choose to receive the response by post or in person, with an additional charge for postal responses. That is a little strange, since the RTI law prescribes no fee for postal responses. Presumably the charge was meant for cases involving a large stack of paper — where the Office must pay the post office by weight — or delivery in electronic format such as a CD. Charging in those cases is understandable, even if there is no legal provision for it.
There was also a box to tick where the applicant is a person below the poverty line — reflecting the RTI law’s requirement that no fee be charged from such a person. How that claim would be verified, and how often it would arise at the Trade Marks Office, was less obvious.
The money
The Office released its annual report for FY 2012–13 at the same time. Revenue was around ₹110 crore (roughly USD 18 million), against expenses of about ₹9 crore (roughly USD 1.5 million) — a revenue surplus of about ₹101 crore in a single financial year.
With that much surplus generated through trademarks alone, the hope expressed at the time was that the Office would invest in additional security features, and in hiring and training more staff for speedier disposal of applications and oppositions.
Where things stand now
That hope was met in substantial part. E-filing is no longer an option alongside paper — it is the default, and the Trade Marks Rules, 2017 made it decisively cheaper, setting official fees for electronic filing 10% below the physical-filing figures. The number of forms was cut from 74 to eight, removing much of the complexity that made a complete e-filing system such an undertaking in the first place.
Disposal times improved markedly over the decade that followed, and the comprehensive Trade Marks Registry portal now handles filing, status, journals and correspondence. The trajectory that began with this upgrade is largely complete — which is why this note now reads as a record of how the system got here.
The takeaways
- The 2014 upgrade completed e-filing — every prescribed form, including online RTI applications.
- E-filing is now the default — and costs 10% less than physical filing under the 2017 Rules.
- The 2017 Rules cut forms from 74 to eight — simplifying what had to be digitised.
- RTI remains a practical tool for status and trend information from the Registry.
Frequently asked questions
Can all trademark forms be filed online in India? Yes — e-filing covers the prescribed forms and is now the default route, with the Trade Marks Rules, 2017 reducing the number of forms from 74 to eight.
Is e-filing cheaper than physical filing? Yes — official fees for electronic filing are set 10% below the corresponding physical-filing fees.
Can an RTI application be filed with the Trade Marks Office online? Yes — online RTI filing was introduced in the 2014 upgrade, replacing the earlier paper-only route.
Is there a fee for an RTI applicant below the poverty line? No — the RTI law requires that no fee be charged from a person below the poverty line, and the form provides for that claim.