With the increasing interest in the Intellectual property domain in our country, Trademark, Patents, and Copyright related interest is slowly gaining momentum.
The development of new government schemes like SIPP (Start-ups Intellectual Property Protection) is encouraging the young generation of our country towards entrepreneurship and startups rather than the old conventional employment.
A trademark application goes through various phases to get registered. One such phase is trademark examination, which is crucial for registering a trademark. During the whole trademark registration process, the application for trademark registration passes through various phases, and a status related to each one of these phases is updated on the official ipindia website. One such status is the trademark “refused,” which means the trademark is not allowed for registration.
Why my Trademark application is showing the status ‘Refused’?
There might be many reasons for refusal like:
– If the trademarks examiner is not satisfied with the Applicant’s response to the examination report, he might refuse the application after providing an opportunity for a hearing with the Applicant. The grounds of Trademark refusal can be Absolute grounds, Relative grounds, or related to improper classification of the goods/services, inadequate information about the Applicant, or the like.
– The application might even show the status Refused after successful opposition proceedings by a third party against the registration.
– If the Applicant fails to attend the hearing, his application might be Refused.
– If the relevant documents are not submitted, the application may get Refused.
What to do if a trademark is refused in India?
To understand the remedies available for refusal, one needs to know the grounds on which the Trademark application was refused. For this purpose, the Applicant needs to ask for a copy of the grounds for refusal of his trademark application. Post receiving such copy within 30 days of the refusal notice, the Applicant can file a review petition.
Section 127 (c) of the Trademarks Act, 1999 empowers the Registrar on an application made in the prescribed manner to review his own decision. Rule 115 provides that an application to the Registrar for the review of his decision shall be made on form TM-M within one month from the date of such decision or within a further period not exceeding one month after that as the Registrar may, on request, allow. The review application is to be accompanied by a statement setting out the grounds on which the review is sought.
An application for review of a decision issued by the Registrar is generally considered by the same officer who passed the impugned decision. The Registrar will dispose of the application after giving the parties an opportunity of hearing to allow the trademark to advertise in the Journal or still be REFUSED.
How can Intepat help you in dealing with the REFUSAL order?
Trademark response filing, review petitions, and all complex legal processes require thorough documentation and legal expertise to complete the process and overcome the refusal. The best approach would be that the trademark examination response is filed appropriately and accurately to satisfy the examiner and allow the application for publication. But even if the application is REFUSED, it is always recommended to seek the help of professionals to overcome the refusal while adhering to the timelines and suggest the correct and least cumbersome approach to the Applicant.
One latest case related to the trademark application for the mark’ Nationz Network’ was refused after filing the examination response and hearing. After that, a review petition was filed within 30 days, explaining the reasons for raising the review and why the application should be accepted. A hearing was granted, after which the mark was accepted and published in the trademarks journal.
Intepat legal team has expertise and experience of many years in dealing with many such complex issues for successful Trademark Registration of our clients.
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