Friday, January 14, 2011

Trademark Search: No more paying of Rs 400/15 min

Finally, Indian Patent Office (IPO) has made a notification stating that Trademark Search will be available to the public free of cost. Now, the trademark search can be conducted without any charge through the public search interface at IPO website. Earlier, a fee of Rs 400/- has to be paid in favor of IPO in order to conduct a search for 15 min and the search could be conducted only for a specific class. Such an initiative taken by the Indian Patent Office can be seen as an efficient measure towards enforcing the trademark rights.

In addition to that, The Patent & Trademark Office has also increased the fee from Rs 2,500/- to Rs 3,500 /- for filing of application to register a trade mark for a specification of goods or services in one class. The notification has been into effect from the date of notification (29.12.2010). All applicants/agents who have filed trade mark applications from 29.12.2010 onwards have been requested to tender the deficiencies in fees Rs 1,000/- (Rupees One thousand only) per application in respect of applications filed from the date of notification till issuance of this notice, on or before 30th . January, 2011, failing which the Registrar shall not act on the matter until the said additional fee has been paid. The deficiencies of fees received thereafter shall result in shifting of filing date to actual date of payment of balance fees.

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