The Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (“CGPDTM”), also known as the Indian Patent Office, has issued two public notices on 6th February 2023, notified that over 180K trademark applications will be treated as abandoned next month. One of these Public Notice relates to the abandonment of those applications that were objected by the Trade Mark Registry, and no response to the Office Action (examination report). The other Public Notice relates to the opposed applications, which were uncontested.

Application abandoned due to no response to the Office Action

The first notice contains over 98K trademarks where CGPDTM claims the applicants have failed to respond to the Office Action within the time limit. The time limit to file a response to the Office Action under Section. 132 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 (“Act”) and Rule 33(4) of the Trade Marks Rules, 2017 (“Rules”) is one month from the service of examination report. Consequently, the CGPDTM  intends to treat these unresponsive cases as “abandoned” under the Act and Rules.

Uncontested opposed applications “deemed to be abandoned”

The second notice contains over 80K trademarks which are under opposition. A counter statement to respond to the opposition must be filed by the applicant within two months of receipt of the notice of opposition. CGPDTM claims the applicants have failed to file its counter statement within the time limit. As a result, these applications shall be “deemed to have abandoned” under Section 21(2) of the Act.

The CGPDTM has notified the applicants and has published the applications numbers which it intends to pass abandonment orders. To prevent the applications being abandoned, the applicant must provide proof of timely filing of its counter statement or response before the deadline of 6th March 2023.

See also:
Indian Trademark Registration Costs and Procedures