IP India Warns Against Unauthorised Online Trademark Platforms
On 7 January 2026, the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks (CGPDTM) — the government body that oversees IP India — issued a public notice cautioning the public against certain online platforms soliciting trademark-related work.
What the notice actually said
The CGPDTM's notice made a specific, narrow point: under the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and the Trade Marks Rules, 2017, only a Registered Trademark Agent or an Advocate is legally authorised to represent an applicant before the Registrar. The notice flagged that several popular online platforms advertising trademark filing services were doing so without being registered agents or advocates themselves — which the notice characterised as advertising/soliciting legal-adjacent work in a way that runs contrary to the Advocates Act, 1961.
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Why this actually matters for you
It's not that using an online platform is illegal for you as an applicant — you're not the one being warned. The practical risk the notice points to is quality and accountability: a platform that isn't a registered agent or advocate has no professional obligation or qualification requirement behind the advice it gives you on classification, distinctiveness, or how to respond to an objection. A wrongly-chosen class or a weak reply to an examination report can cost you the government fee and months of delay, with no one professionally accountable for the mistake.
What to actually check before you file
- Ask whether the person handling your filing is a Registered Trademark Agent or a practising Advocate — this is a matter of public record with IP India.
- Get the government fee and the professional fee quoted separately, so you know exactly what you're paying a human being for versus what goes to the Registry.
- Be wary of guaranteed-approval or fixed-timeline promises — no agent controls how the Registrar examines an application, and anyone promising a guaranteed outcome is overselling what's actually in their control.
We're a registered consultancy based in Ahmedabad, and we're always happy to have this specific credential conversation with a prospective client before they commit to anything.