Pendency of trade mark applications at examination stage has been reduced drastically: Sitharaman

New Delhi, Mar 28 (KNN) The pendency of trade mark applications at the examination stage has been reduced drastically – the time taken for examination has been brought down from 13 months to less than one month, the Parliament was informed. 

Till February 28, 2017, the total number of applications filed and pending for examination was 28,889, while the total number of pending applications at all stages was 7,92,360.

“The main reason for pendency has been the lack of requisite manpower,” Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said this in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

The new Trade Mark Rules, 2017 has been notified on March 6, 2017 to streamline and simplify the processing of trade mark applications in the country.

In 2016-17 (till February, 2017), the number of trade mark applications filed was 2,56,628 while the applications disposed including registration was 2,43,009.

However, the case was not same in the previous years. In 2015-16, the number of trade mark applications filed was 2,83,060 while the applications disposed including registration was just 90,662.

Under the new Trade Mark Rules, 2017, the numbers of Trade Mark (TM) Forms have been reduced from 74 to 8.

To promote e-filing of trade mark applications, the fee for online filing has been kept         at 10% lower than that for physical filing.

Under the new rule, there is 50% lower fares for filing trade mark applications by Individuals/ Startups/Small   Enterprises vis-à-vis Companies.

Also, online facility for filing of applications has been strengthened so as to reduce the workload at the office and also to save the time of applicants.