Notice of Opposition

Any person can file a notice of opposition on a trademark that appears on trademark journal within 4 months from the date of the first appearance. The opposition will be filled in the FORM TM -O, fees for filing the same is around three thousand. Initially, There were 74 different forms available for every different process, which has been amended in trademark rules in 2017, currently there are just 8 exhaustive forms covering every concerning thing. The notice of opposition has to be filed and contested at the same office or branch where the original application for trademark registration has been filed by the Applicant. The Head office of the Trade Marks Registry is at Mumbai and branch offices are at Ahmadabad, Chennai, Delhi, and Kolkata.

Counter Statement

Rule 44 of The Trademark Rules, 2017, states that after the filing of the notice of opposition, the Applicant for the registration of subject mark, can file a counter statement, in Form TM-O, within 2 months (not extendable) of the receipt of the notice of opposition. On failure of filing the counter-statement the application for registration deemed to be abandoned or deserted by the applicant and the Registrar will take it down from the journal and will not approve it for the registers.
Applicant can also file the same on the basis of Electronic copy of notice made available on website of Trademarks Registry.

Producing Evidence in trademark opposition

• Evidence in Support of Opposition: Rule 45 of The Trademark Rules, 2017, states that the opposing party has to produce evidence to support its objection within 2 months (extendable by one month) of receiving the copy of the counter-statement filed by the applicant. The party also has the option of refraining from producing any evidence and relying solely on the opposition notice.
• Evidence in Support of Application: after the opposing party files evidence in support of his objections, the applicant is also allowed a time of two months to produce evidence in his favor. He also has an option of not providing any evidence and to rely only on the counter statement as provided in Rule 46, The Trademark Rules, 2017.
• Evidence in reply: Under Rule 47, The Trademark Rules, 2017, the Opponent is given one additional month (extendable by 1 month) to file Evidence in response to the Applicant's evidence.
  
  Once this phase is over parties are not allowed to adduce any further evidence. However, the Registrar can exercise his discretion to ask for more evidence subject to cost and terms. An interlocutory application needs to be filled by the concerned party for this.

Hearing

After the evidence filing stage is over the Registrar shall give the notice to the parties stating the date of hearing, which shall be at least one month after the date of the first notice. Hearing is based on the notice of opposition, counter-statement, and evidence filed. The parties are required to notify the Registrar about their intention to appear for the hearing. There's an option of adjourning the hearing also, and the request for it can be made under FORM TM –M, at least 3 days prior to the hearing, however one is allowed a maximum of two times only to request for an adjournment. Finally, the matter is heard by the Registrar and decided upon merits. If any of the party doesn't show up for the hearing the Registrar will rule against his favor.

If Appeal

The Registrar shall upon hearing both the parties and reviewing the evidence submitted decides whether the opposition succeeds at establishing their objection or failed to do so, and in turn determines whether the trademark shall be registered or not thereby bringing the opposition proceeding to a conclusion. However, the party aggrieved by the Registrar's decision may challenge the same by filing an appeal before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board.

Now in this already cumbersome process, the security checks provided in the acts become the reason for further delaying of the trademark registration which takes a minimum of 2 years to complete. once the mark is opposed it is imperative for the applicant to reply vehemently and to prepare his defense in order, it is also advisable to take experts help in the process of registering a trademark, that will help by eliminating all the chances of getting objected or rectified, and an unopposed registration is the best way out there to get the registration done easily and in time.