"Draft of Indian Trade Marks Rules, 2015 – A VAST AND FAR-REACHING TRANSFORMATION"

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"Draft of Indian Trade Marks Rules, 2015 – A VAST AND FAR-REACHING TRANSFORMATION"

Published on 17th November, 2015, the Draft of Trade Marks Rules are all set to bring a slue of changes and replace the current Trade Marks Rules, 2002. The Draft rules have been proposed by the Central Government as per powers conferred to it under Section 157 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999.

The Draft Rules are required to be published as per Section 157(4) for the information of all persons likely to be affected and is open to objections or suggestion for a period of thirty days, after which the Draft shall be taken into consideration.

The Rules have been amended to meet the needs of a technologically growing world. Introduction of authentication of electronic records by way of digital signature and the requirement of trademark capable of being represented graphically in digitized form give an indication of the Indian system tilting towards the new age necessities.

Minor changes spreading across various Rules have been proposed. However, proposed amendments to the Structure of Fees and List of Forms have surely gathered much highlight! The Fees for application, renewal, post registration changes, the proceedings after opposition of a Trade Mark Application etc. are set to increase doubly or more than that. A notable change in order to promote E-Filing has been made by levying 10% surcharge on Manual Filing of documents.

Further, titles to the List of Forms which were previously numbered as Form TM-1 to TM-74, TMA-1 to TMA-3 and O-1 to O-4 have been simplified and freshly titled as TM-A, TM-M, TM-R, TM-C, TM-O, TM-P, TM-U and TM-G.

The most significant change can be found in the Draft, wherein now a Request must be made to include a mark in the list of well known trademarks. Such request shall be made in Form TM-M accompanied with requisite fees and evidences supporting the claim. The Registrar of Trade Marks shall then look into the request and may stipulate criteria for the purpose of determining whether the mark is well-known.

Looking at the Draft Rules, it can be remarked that the authorities are set to simplify the existing Trade Marks system and promote E-Filing system.

Contributed By : Ketan Bhatt (Advocate & Trademark Attorney)
Designed By : Vikash Singh