India’s Trade Marks Registry has accepted its first-ever smell mark — a rose-scented tyre filed by Sumitomo Rubber Industries. It cracks a long-standing barrier for scent trademarks. Here’s how, and whether your brand’s signature fragrance could qualify.
The breakthrough
India’s Registry has accepted its first smell trademark — Sumitomo’s rose-scented tyre, now published for advertisement.
Historically, India had no mechanism for smell marks because they couldn’t meet the mandatory “graphical representation” requirement — so scent marks were treated as non-registrable. Sumitomo overcame this by submitting a “7-dimensional vector as a scientific/graphical representation” of its rose scent. The Registry accepted that representation, finding the rose scent arbitrary, non-functional and distinctive for tyres (a scent that has nothing inherently to do with tyres).
Requirements for a smell mark
If your brand has a distinctive fragrance, consider protection where you can meet these criteria:
- Clear description — a precise description of the scent;
- Distinctiveness — the scent must uniquely identify your brand among similar products;
- Non-descriptive and non-functional — it mustn’t naturally arise from the goods or serve a functional purpose (a perfume’s own smell won’t qualify, but a rose scent on a tyre can);
- Graphically representable — currently, a vector-based representation showing the scent components’ nature and extent is accepted; and
- Use — establish use via customer reviews mentioning the scent, manufacturing documents, or similar evidence.
Why it matters
Smell marks enhance brand recall and the customer experience, and — once accepted — are difficult to oppose or cancel, given how hard the scent is to replicate or challenge. Sumitomo’s acceptance opens the door for other brands with genuinely distinctive, non-functional fragrances to seek protection in India for the first time.
The takeaways
- India accepted its first smell mark — Sumitomo’s rose-scented tyre.
- The graphical-representation hurdle can be met — via a vector-based scientific representation.
- The scent must be arbitrary, distinctive and non-functional — not the goods’ natural smell.
- Evidence of use helps — customer reviews mentioning the scent, manufacturing records, etc.
Frequently asked questions
Can you register a smell as a trademark in India? Yes — India accepted its first smell mark (a rose-scented tyre) using a vector-based graphical representation, overcoming the previous barrier.
What made Sumitomo’s smell mark registrable? A 7-dimensional vector representation of the rose scent, which the Registry accepted, together with the scent being arbitrary, non-functional and distinctive for tyres.
What does a smell need to be registrable? A clear description, distinctiveness, non-functionality (not the goods’ natural smell), a graphical (vector) representation, and evidence of use.
Why register a smell mark? It strengthens brand recall and customer experience, and is difficult for others to oppose or cancel once accepted.
Useful official resources
- The Trade Marks Act, 1999
- Trade Marks Registry — IP India