Within the 4-month period after the publication/advertisement of the mark in the Trademarks Journal, any person can oppose the mark by filing a Notice of Opposition on the prescribed Form TM-O along with the prescribed fee of INR 2700. Where a notice of opposition has been filed in respect of a single trademark, however for different classes of goods and services, it shall incur the fee in respect of each class in relation to which the opposition is filed.

The Notice of Opposition primarily comprises of the following:

  1. The application number against which opposition is sought.
  2. An indication of the goods or services listed in the trademark application against which opposition is sought.
  3. The name of the applicant for the trademark.
  4. If the opposition is entered by the proprietor of the earlier trademark, his name and address along with details of his trademark/rights.
  5. If the opposing party has no place of business in India, the name of the opponents and their address for service in India.
  6. If the opposition is based on an earlier trademark, a statement to that effect and an indication of the status, application number and the filing date, including the priority date of the earlier trademark.
  7. If the earlier trademark is a well-known mark, a description to that effect along with the details of the country or countries in which the earlier trademark is recognized to be well known along with details of the earlier mark.
  8. The grounds on which the opposition is based.
  9. The counter statement shall be verified at the foot by the opponent or by his duly authorized agent who shall specifically state, referring to the numbered paragraphs of the notice of opposition, what he verifies of his own knowledge and what he verifies upon information received and believed to be true.
  10. The verification shall be signed by the person making it and shall state the date on which and the place at which it was signed.

Upon review and compliance of the necessary formalities, the registrar shall ordinarily serve a copy of the notice of opposition on the applicant of the trademark within three months of the date of receipt after which the opposition proceeds towards the filing of the counter statement.

For more information on filing an opposition for trademark in India, write us an email to info@selvams.com. We will be glad to assist you.