You registered the company. You still don't own the name.
Here is a mistake almost every founder makes. You incorporate a company or register a firm, the name comes back approved on the MCA portal, and you assume the name is now yours. It is not. Company registration and trademark registration are two entirely separate systems run by two different authorities for two different purposes. Registering "Acme Foods Private Limited" with the Registrar of Companies stops another company being incorporated with that exact name — it does not stop a competitor selling biscuits under the brand "Acme", opening an "Acme" storefront, or even registering "Acme" as a trademark and then telling you to stop using it. The only thing that gives you the exclusive right to a brand name, logo or tagline in the marketplace is a trademark. This is how you actually get it, what it costs, and why the timing matters more than founders think.
What a trademark is, and what registration actually buys you
A trademark is a sign that distinguishes your goods or services from everyone else's — typically a brand name, a logo, a wordmark, a tagline, sometimes a distinctive shape or colour combination. Trademarks in India are governed by the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and the Trade Marks Rules, 2017, and administered by the Trade Marks Registry under the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks.
You do get some protection the moment you start trading under a name, even without registering it — the common-law right to sue for passing off if someone else uses a confusingly similar mark and rides on your reputation. But passing off is expensive to prove: you have to establish your goodwill, the other side's misrepresentation, and the damage, all from scratch, every time. Registration changes the game. A registered trademark gives you, under Section 28, the exclusive right to use the mark for the goods or services it covers, and the right to sue for infringement under Section 29 — where you simply have to show the marks and the goods are similar, not rebuild your entire reputation in court. Registration is, in effect, the difference between owning the brand and merely having a claim you might one day be able to argue.
Who can apply
Any person who claims to be the proprietor of a trademark can apply — and "person" is read broadly. An individual, a sole proprietor, a partnership firm, an LLP, a company, a trust, a society, and even a foreign applicant can all own a trademark. This matters for founders because it means you do not have to wait until you have incorporated a company to protect a brand. A person running a sole proprietorship or a partnership firm can hold the trademark in their own name from day one — and it is often smarter to file early, in the founder's or the operating entity's name, than to leave the brand unprotected while the business gets off the ground.
The classification system — you register in "classes", and it costs per class
You do not register a trademark in the abstract; you register it for specific goods or services, sorted into the Nice Classification. There are 45 classes in all — classes 1 to 34 cover goods and classes 35 to 45 cover services. A clothing brand files in Class 25; a software product in Class 9 and often Class 42; a restaurant in Class 43; a consultancy in Class 35. Picking the right class (or classes) is one of the genuinely technical parts of the process, because the protection you get is bounded by the classes you file in. A brand registered only for apparel does not automatically stop someone using the same name for a chain of cafés.
The government fee is charged per class. Under Section 18(2) a single application on Form TM-A can cover more than one class (a multi-class application), but you pay the per-class fee for each one. So a brand that needs three classes pays three times the single-class fee — worth knowing before you decide how wide to cast the net.
What it costs — and the concession most founders qualify for but never claim
The Trade Marks Rules, 2017 deliberately price the process to favour small applicants. For an e-filed application on Form TM-A, the government fee per class is:
- ₹4,500 per class where the applicant is an individual, a startup, or a small enterprise (MSME); and
- ₹9,000 per class in every other case — that is, for companies and LLPs that are not registered as a small enterprise, and any other applicant.
That is a 50% concession, and the qualifying categories are wider than most founders realise. A DPIIT-recognised startup qualifies for the lower slab, and so does any business with a valid Udyam (MSME) registration. In practice this means a founder who has already taken Udyam registration — which is free — or secured DPIIT startup recognition can file the company's trademarks at half the standard corporate rate. Filing the Udyam registration first, purely to unlock the concessional trademark slab, is often a sensible sequence. (Physical filing costs slightly more per class than e-filing; there is no reason to file on paper.)
How the process actually runs, start to finish
The journey from application to certificate has a predictable shape, even though the timeline varies:
- Search first. Before filing, you (or your advisor) search the trademark register for identical or similar marks already filed or registered in your classes. This is the single most valuable step — filing over an existing mark wastes the fee and invites an objection.
- File Form TM-A. The application is filed with the Trade Marks Registry, specifying the mark, the applicant, and the class or classes. On filing you get a filing date and an application number — and from this point you may use the ™ symbol.
- Examination. A Registry examiner reviews the application and issues an examination report. Objections come on two grounds: absolute grounds under Section 9 (the mark is not distinctive, is descriptive of the goods, or is generic) and relative grounds under Section 11 (the mark is identical or similar to an earlier mark). You file a written reply, and if the objection stands there may be a hearing.
- Advertisement in the Trade Marks Journal. Once the Registry is satisfied, the mark is published in the official Trade Marks Journal, so the public can see it.
- Opposition window. This is the part founders forget: any third party may oppose the registration within four months of the advertisement under Section 21. If someone believes your mark conflicts with theirs, this is where they say so, and the matter is contested before the Registry.
- Registration. If there is no opposition (or you win it), the mark proceeds to registration and a registration certificate is issued. From this point — and only from this point — you may use the ® symbol.
With no objection and no opposition, registration can complete in well under a year; a contested application can take considerably longer. The ™ you can use throughout; the ® you earn at the end.
™ versus ® — and why the difference is a legal line, not decoration
The two symbols are not interchangeable, and the distinction is enforced. ™ signals that you are claiming a mark as a trademark — you can use it the moment you file, and even on an unregistered mark you are simply asserting a claim. ® means the mark is registered, and you may only use it once the registration certificate has been issued. Using ® on a mark that is not yet registered is not a harmless shortcut — falsely representing a trademark as registered is an offence under the Act. So: ™ from the day you file, ® only after the certificate arrives.
How long it lasts — and the renewal that keeps it alive forever
Unlike a patent, a trademark can last indefinitely. Under Section 25, a registration is valid for ten years from the date of filing, and it can be renewed for further periods of ten years, with no limit on the number of renewals — as long as you keep renewing, and keep using the mark, it stays yours. Renewal is done by filing Form TM-R and paying the prescribed renewal fee; the application to renew can be made in the last year before expiry, and the Registry sends a reminder before the mark falls due. Miss the deadline and there is a grace period with a surcharge, and beyond that a route to restore a removed mark — but the clean discipline is simply to renew on time. The practical takeaway: a trademark is one of the few business assets that, properly maintained, never expires.
Where this sits in starting up
Trademark registration is the protection layer that sits on top of everything else on the business-setup ladder. Whichever structure you chose — a proprietorship, a partnership, or a company after weighing the entity structure comparison — the entity owns the business, but only a trademark owns the brand. The two registrations most worth doing early because they are free and unlock other benefits — Udyam (MSME) and DPIIT startup recognition — also happen to be the two that halve your trademark filing fee, which is one more reason to take them before you file. Protecting the name is not a step you do after you have "made it"; it is part of setting up properly.
How we handle it at RDA, Baner
At RDA Advisory, Baner, we treat the brand as part of the business setup, not an afterthought. We run the trademark search before you file so you are not building on a name someone else already owns, identify the correct classes for what you actually sell, file Form TM-A in the right proprietor's name at the concessional rate you qualify for — sequencing your Udyam or DPIIT registration first where that unlocks the 50% fee — respond to examination objections under Sections 9 and 11, watch the four-month opposition window, and set up the ten-year renewal so the mark never lapses. And we tell you honestly when a name is too weak or too close to an existing mark to be worth filing. Office No. 102, Snehraj Apartment, Baner, Pune 411045 · call +91 77570 45059.
Built a brand? Protect it before someone else registers it
Trading under a name you have not trademarked, or not sure which classes to file in? RDA searches the register, picks the right classes, files your trademark at the concessional startup/MSME rate, and manages the process through to the registration certificate — so the brand you are building is one you actually own. Book a consult at rdatax.in or call +91 77570 45059, or see our business registration service. RDA Advisory, Baner, Pune.
Verification note: The requirements described here are based on the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and the Trade Marks Rules, 2017, administered by the Trade Marks Registry under the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks. A registered trademark confers the exclusive right to use the mark and the right to sue for infringement (Sections 28 and 29), while unregistered marks are protected only by the common-law action for passing off (Section 27). Applications are made on Form TM-A under Section 18, a single application may cover more than one class under Section 18(2), goods and services are classified into 45 classes under the Nice Classification (classes 1 to 34 for goods and 35 to 45 for services), and the e-filing government fee is ₹4,500 per class for an individual, startup or small enterprise (MSME) and ₹9,000 per class in other cases under the First Schedule to the Trade Marks Rules, 2017. After examination (with objections on absolute grounds under Section 9 and relative grounds under Section 11) and advertisement in the Trade Marks Journal, any person may oppose registration within four months of advertisement under Section 21. A registration is valid for ten years from the date of filing and is renewable for successive ten-year periods by filing Form TM-R under Section 25; falsely representing a trademark as registered is an offence under the Act. Fees, forms, timelines and eligibility for the concessional rate are periodically revised; confirm the current position with a trademark practitioner or your advisor before filing. This is general information, not legal or professional advice.
