Trademark Search
How to Do a Trademark Public Search
Ahmedabad, Gujarat
You can search the Indian trademark register yourself, for free, before you spend anything on filing. It takes a few minutes and it is the single most useful thing you can do to avoid a wasted application.
The portal is the Trade Marks Registry’s Public Search at tmrsearch.ipindia.gov.in. Note that since the 2026 revamp it opens with a verification step: you enter an email address or mobile number, complete a CAPTCHA and then an OTP. There is still no account and no login — it is a one-time session check on each visit.
The three ways to search
Wordmark — searches the text of marks on the register. This is the one you will use most.
Phonetic — searches for marks that sound like yours. This matters more than most people realise, and is explained below.
Vienna code — searches the figurative elements of logos and device marks by their classification codes. Use this if your brand is primarily a symbol.
A newer AI-based search option also now appears on the portal alongside the classic three.
How to run a wordmark search properly
Choose your class first. The search is class-specific, so results only cover the class you select. Work out your class before searching — the trademark class finder will get you there.
Then pick the match type, and this is where most self-searches go wrong:
Start With returns only marks beginning with your text. It is the narrowest option and it will miss almost everything that matters.
Contains returns marks with your text anywhere inside them. Use this one. If your brand is SUNRAY, Contains will surface SUNRAYS, MYSUNRAY and SUNRAY PLUS, all of which are relevant. Start With would miss two of the three.
Match With returns exact matches only. Useful as a quick first check, useless as your only check.
Search the distinctive part of your name rather than the whole thing. If you are launching VEDANTA ORGANIC FOODS, search VEDANT and VEDANTA, not the full phrase. Examiners compare the dominant element, not the string.
Why the phonetic search matters most
Indian trademark examination turns on deceptive similarity, not identity. A mark that sounds like an earlier mark can be refused even if it is spelled completely differently, because the test considers a consumer of average intelligence with imperfect recollection.
That makes the phonetic search the one that actually predicts objections. KWALITY and QUALITY, SUNRISE and SUNRAISE, ZODIAC and ZODIAK are the kinds of pairs that a wordmark search misses entirely and a phonetic search catches.
If you run only one search, run this one.
Search more than your own class
A clear result in your class is not the end of the enquiry. Check classes that are commercially adjacent, because goods and services can be held similar across class boundaries.
If you are in Class 30 for packaged food, look at 29 and 43 as well. If you are in Class 25 for clothing, look at 18 and 35. Conflicts routinely arise between neighbouring classes where the trade channels overlap, and classification is an administrative convenience rather than a legal boundary.
Reading the results
A hit is not automatically a blocker. Look at the status of each mark you find.
A Registered mark in your class for similar goods is a genuine obstacle. A Objected, Abandoned, Withdrawn or Refused mark is much weaker, though an abandoned application can sometimes be restored. A pending application filed before yours still takes priority if it proceeds.
Check the goods actually covered, not just the class number. Two marks can sit in the same class covering completely unrelated goods. Our guide to every trademark status explains what each result means.
What the search will not tell you
This is the honest limitation, and it is worth knowing before you rely on a clear result.
Public Search covers the register. It does not cover unregistered marks, and in India an unregistered business with genuine reputation can still stop you through a passing off action. A name can be completely clear on the portal and still belong, in practice, to someone else.
It also will not tell you whether an examiner would consider two marks deceptively similar. That is a judgement call, and reasonable people differ on it.
Separately, the well-known marks list is maintained separately on the portal. A well-known mark is protected across all classes under Section 11(2), so a conflict there matters regardless of what you sell.
After the search
Treat a clear search as a good sign rather than a guarantee, and a hit as a prompt to look closely rather than to give up. If you find something close, the questions are whether the goods really overlap, whether the earlier mark is actually in force, and whether your mark is distinguishable as a whole.
If an objection does come, it will cite either Section 9 or Section 11. See our guides to replying to a Section 9 objection and to the Objected status.