Trademark Opposition & Opposition Prosecution

How can one oppose any trademark which is approved, in India? What is the process and proceedings of filing an opposition for a trademark in India?

Stipulated Time Period- The opposition against any trademark approved and published can be filed and has to be filed within 4 months from the date of the publication of the same in the trademark Journal by the Registrar. One needs to file the opposition only if he or she has proper evidence of the fact for which he or she is opposing the trademark.

The grounds for opposition have to be according to the section 9’s and 11’s relative and the absolute grounds for refusal of any trademark according to the Indian Trademark Act, 1999.

What are the procedures to be followed after filing the opposition notice?

1. The registrar needs to file a copy of the opposition within 2 months from the receipt of the opposition notice. The applicant needs to be intimated about the opposition within these two months.
2. The applicant needs to revert on the same with facts and evidence for his application to be true and needs to do in the manner prescribed in the law. Applicant needs to clear the doubts about which the opposition has been made and his/her views about the same on the basis of evidence.
3. The trademark will be deemed as abandoned, if the applicant doesn’t file the reply within the stipulated time period against the opposition made on his trademark.
4. The registrar after the stipulated time frame needs to send a counter statement to the party opposing the trademark.
5. The registrar then needs to either accept or reject the trademark application on the basis of the evidence provided by both the parties. If anyone is not satisfied with the proceedings, then he or she might appeal to the Intellectual Property Appellate Board of India for further proceedings.