Trademark Jurisdiction
The Trade Marks Act 1999 is the legislation presently in force in India that governs the realm of trade marks in India.
All marks such as a word, device, numerical, label, or colour combination that is depicted graphically to portray any services or goods that can be registered as a trademark in India.Appropriate office of the Trade Marks Registry for the purpose of filing a document is the office within the territorial jurisdiction of which the principal place of business of the applicant in India is situated.
In case there is no entry in the register with regard to the principle place of business in India of the proprietor, the place given in the address for service in India as entered in the register is considered as the principle place.
If the proprietors are registered jointly then, the principle place of such a business in India will be situated at place of the business owner whose name is entered first in the register. But if neither joint proprietors have their principle place of business in India, then the address for service in India of those joint proprietors as entered in the register shall act as the principle place of business in India.
If the registered proprietor or neither joint proprietors of the trademark have no principle place of business in India doesn’t contain any address for service in India entered in the register then the place of the office of the Trade Marks Registry where the application for registration of the trademark was made shall be deemed to be the principle place of business.
A trademark for which an application for registration stands pending against the notified date or if it is made on or after the notified date, in such cases the office of the Trade Marks Registry within whose territorial limits the principle place of business in India mentioned in their application or in case the applicants have made an application jointly, the principle place of the applicant whose name is entered first in such application shall be termed as the principle place of business. But in case neither applicant nor any joint applicant has a principle place of business in India the place mentioned as address for service in India as specified in the application shall be deemed as the place of business.
What happens in case of change in the principle place of business or address for service?
There will not be a change in the principle place of business in India or in the address for service in India:
1. of a registered proprietor or any jointly registered proprietors related to any trademark entered in the register at the notified date that is made or effected subsequently.
2. of an application or joint applications for registration for any trademarks for which an application is either pending against the notified date or is made on or subsequent to that date or to the date of filing of such application.
None of the above mentioned circumstances affect the jurisdiction of the appropriate office of the Trade Marks Registry.
Entry of the appropriate office in the Register
Every trademark on the register at the notified date or registered subsequently, then the Registrar shall ensure that the appropriate office of the Trade Marks Registry shall be entered in the register. The Registrar may also correct any errors made in such entries at any time.
Offices of the Trade Marks Registry
There are five offices of the Trade Marks Registry with each having jurisdiction over certain states:
| S.No. | Office of the Trademark Registry | Jurisdiction |
| 1. | Mumbai (Head Office) | Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Goa |
| 2. | New Delhi | Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Union Territories of Chandigarh |
| 3. | Ahmadabad | Gujarat and Rajasthan and Union Territories of Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli |
| 4. | Kolkata | Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura, Jharkhand and Union Territories of Nagaland, Andaman & Nicobar Islands |
| 5. | Chennai | Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Union Territories of Pondicherry and Lakshadweep Island |
To sum it up, the appropriate office for filing an application for a particular business is ideally the Trademark Registry within whose boundaries the business takes place. For example if the place of business of the proprietor(s) in India is situated in Mumbai then the office of the Trade Marks Registry in Mumbai shall have jurisdiction.
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