INDIA: IPO’s Intimation Of Possible Declaration Of Abandonment Of Trademark Cases

The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM) has recently issued two notices under Trade Marks Journal Number 2090 dated February 06, 2023. The public notices ensure proper notice to the Applicants who, as per the Registry, have either not filed the Response to the Examination Report or the Counter Statement against a Notice of Opposition within the statutory deadlines.

NOTICE REGARDING EXAMINED APPLICATIONS

The first notice talks about the trade mark applications that have been examined but whose replies to the examination report have not been filed by the Applicants with the Registry within the prescribed time of one month (calculated from the date of official receipt of the examination report by the Applicant).

Vide the notice, the IPO has invited the Applicants/ agents of the Applicants to review their matters and see if any of them fall under the list issued by the IPO. In case the Applicant has already submitted a response in any of such cases, they have an obligation to inform the Trade Marks Office of the same by way of addressing an email to mumbai.tmr@nic.in at the latest by March 8, 2023 (i.e., within 30 days of the public notice dated February 6, 2023) along with all the necessary documents in support of their case.

NOTICE REGARDING OPPOSED APPLICATIONS

The second notice talks about the trade mark applications in which the Notice of Oppositions had been filed and served by the Registry on the Applicant, but the Counter Statements for the same have not been filed with the Registry within the prescribed time period of two months (calculated from the date of official receipt of the notice of opposition by the Applicant).

Vide the notice, the IPO has invited the Applicants/ agents of the Applicants to review their matters and see if any of them fall under the list issued by the IPO. In case the Applicant has already submitted a counter-statement in any of such cases, they have an obligation to inform the Trade Marks Office of the same by way of addressing an email to mumopp.tmr@nic.in, latest by March 8, 2023 (i.e., within 30 days of the public notice dated February 6, 2023) along with all the necessary documents in support of their case.

Please note that in case no reply/grievance is received by the IPO, the Applications shall be treated as ‘abandoned’/‘deemed to have abandoned’ as per law, and their status shall be updated accordingly.

We have reviewed the application numbers listed in the two public notices and have sent emails to clients impacted by the notification.

In case you have not received any email from us in this regard, please be rest assured that none of your client’s trademark applications have been affected by the aforementioned two notices.