Trademark Renewal Process

A trademark registration in India lasts ten years, and the clock runs from the date of application, not from the date the certificate was issued. That catches people out, because the certificate often arrives a year or two after filing and the renewal date is already partly spent.

Renewal is on Form TM-R. It is administrative rather than substantive: the Registry does not re-examine whether your mark is distinctive, and it will not refuse a renewal on grounds it could have raised at registration.

The timeline that matters

Up to one year before expiry — under Rule 57 of the Trade Marks Rules, 2017 you may file the renewal as early as twelve months ahead. There is no advantage to leaving it late and no penalty for being early.

Before expiry — under Section 25(3) read with Rule 58, the Registry is required to notify the proprietor of the approaching expiry and the conditions for renewal. Check the renewal notice and service record, registration and expiry dates, and any applicable Rule 58 special registration situation. Missing a notice does not automatically extend the prescribed period; assess the actual record and available procedure.

Six months after expiry — the grace period. Under the proviso to Section 25(3), read with Rule 59, the Registrar shall not remove the mark if Form TM-R is filed with the renewal fee and a surcharge within six months of expiry. The surcharge is 50 per cent of the renewal fee.

After six months, within one year — restoration. Once the mark has been removed, Section 25(4) with Rule 60 allows an application on Form TM-R to restore and renew it, made after six months and within one year from expiry. The Registrar must consider the interests of anyone else affected, so restoration is discretionary rather than automatic.

After one year — the ordinary Rule 60 restoration window has closed. Check any applicable Rule 58 special registration situation, the actual registration and service record, and available lawful procedure before deciding whether a fresh application is needed.

The government fees

Renewal on Form TM-R is ₹9,000 per class by e-filing. Late renewal within the grace period adds a surcharge of ₹4,500, so ₹13,500 in total. Restoration after removal is ₹9,000 plus the renewal fee.

The fee is charged per class, so a mark registered in three classes costs three times as much to renew. Unlike the application fee, renewal is not reduced for individuals, startups or small enterprises. Full figures are on the government fee page.

What renewal does not do

This is worth understanding before you treat renewal as the whole of your maintenance.

Renewal does not protect you against a non-use challenge. Under Section 47 a registration can be taken off the register where the mark has not been genuinely used, and paying the renewal fee for a mark you stopped using years ago does not cure that. A renewed but unused registration is still vulnerable.

Renewal also does not update the register. If your company has changed name, moved address, converted from a firm to a company, or assigned the mark, those are separate filings. Renewing does not quietly fix them, and an out-of-date entry causes problems in enforcement and in due diligence.

Nor does renewal extend to classes you did not register. If the business has grown into new goods or services since the original filing, that is a new application, not a wider renewal.

Before you renew

Check the mark is still being used as registered. A mark used in a materially different form from the one on the register is weaker than its owner assumes, and renewal is a sensible moment to consider refiling the version actually in use.

Check the register entry is current — proprietor name, address and address for service. Check which classes are actually worth the fee, because a class the business has genuinely exited may not be. And confirm the exact due date from the register rather than from memory, using the status guide if you need to read the entry.

If you would rather have it handled, see trademark renewal.