A trademark opposition is a legal action in which one party attempts to prevent a trademark application from being approved. Service providers who believe your trademark may adversely affect them or their own trademark submit a trademark opposition with the trademark examiner in writing, in the form of a warning. If the examiner believes the opposition has merit, the notification will be forwarded to the applicant, who will have two months to submit a counter statement to the Registrar.

If the Registrar believes the rebuttal statement adequately addresses the opposition, the opposition may be dismissed. Alternatively, if the registrar believes there is more to be considered, they may convene a hearing in which both parties submit their cases. The Registrar will rule on the legitimacy of either the application or the opposition after the hearing. Within three months following its publication, this judgement can be challenged to the Intellectual Property Appellate Board.

Opposition of Trademark Application

'Opposed' signifies that a third party has objected to the registration of your trademark and has filed an opposition. As a thorough statement, the opposition is followed by a reply/counterstatement, which has to be filed in response.

In the following instances, a third party will raise opposition under the Trademarks Act of 1999:

• Descriptive name: An objection will be presented if the trademark is comprehensive or clearly reveals the core essence of the goods or service.
• Deceptive or identical: An objection will be raised if the trademark is approximately equivalent, will likely mislead the public, or is a copy of a trademark that has already been registered by another party.
• Prohibited: The Examiner will object to the application if the trademark violates the names and logos listed in the Emblems and Names Act of 1950 or any other applicable law.

Process to check a trademark opposition

• Visit IPIndia's official website.
• Select Trademarks from the drop-down menu.
• Click Trademark Status
• Mention the number of the trademark application.
• You can see all of the details regarding the trademark, as well as the current status of the trademark application.
• If your application is listed as "opposed," it signifies that any interested party opposes your mark's registration.

Filing Trademark Opposition reply

The reply is an opportunity for you to present your arguments in response to the Examiner's objections, and it should be filed appropriately. Although it is not required to retain a lawyer in order to file a response, it is suggested to do so in order to improve your chances. Attorneys have a thorough understanding of trademark concerns and can provide reliable legal guidance.The timeframe for filing a trademark opposition answer or counter-statement is thirty days after the applicant receives the report or sixty days after the opposition status is published online.

The applicant will benefit from filing a trademark opposition response in the following ways:

• The application will be kept alive rather than being abandoned.
• Filing a response will provide you the opportunity to protect your trademark.
• The trademark will be moved on to the next stage of the application procedure.

Documents Required

Trademark Application ID

A copy of the trademark application number, as well as information about the registered trademark.

Power Of Attorney

Authorizing our attorney to act on your behalf, signed on non-judicial stamp paper.