HOW TO CONDUCT TRADEMARK SEARCH IN INDIA

A trademark search is an important phase in the trademark adoption or registration process. Businesses and individuals may avoid costly legal conflicts and verify that their brand name is unique by doing a search.

acsguwahati

Jul 15, 2025 - 12:43

TRADEMARK SEARCH

Before delving into the topic of trademark search it is crucial to know about the trademark.Trademarkis a word, design, orsymbolwhich differentiates a product from other products of a similar kind. It is considered to be a part ofintellectual property rights.

As per Section 2 (zb) of TheTrademarks Act 1999, trademark refers to a mark that is capable of being represented graphically; which is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of others and may include the shape of commodities, their packaging and combination of colors.

MEANING OF TRADEMARK SEARCH

A trademark search is an important phase in the trademark adoption orregistration process. Businesses and individuals may avoid costly legal conflicts and verify that their brand name is unique by doing a search.

Apublic trademark searchis conducted in the Indian Trademark Registry database. The search examines if a proposed trademark can be used in conjunction with certain goods or services. Similar word marks and phonetically similar names in a certain class can be thoroughly explored in trademark search India.

IMPORTANCE OF TRADEMARK SEARCH

The first and foremost prerequisite before filing a trademark for registration is its search inIntellectual Property portal. The steps basically involves analyzing local and international databases to identify any similar or identical marks that could pose a challenge to the proposed mark. Salient features of trademark search:

Trademark search would avoid theinfringementof already registered trademark.Availability is an important criteria while deciding on a trademark that will avoid any duplication.It is important that the proposed trademark is not only unique but have proper trademarkclassification.Every potential conflict can be avoided by conducting a thorough and meticulous search.

CLASSIFICATION OF TRADEMARK CLASS

According to theNICE classificationof trademarks, which is an international classification of goods and services, there are 45 classes which are divided as 1 to 35 for goods and 36 to 45 for services. Before a trademark search is done, aclass searchwould be necessary in order to determine which class the product belongs to. A product may appear to belong to one or two trademark classes at times. In such cases, the applicant might choose the most acceptable class or even all suitable classes based on the description of the products or services.

HOW TO CONDUCT TRADEMARK SEARCH IN INDIA

First of all log in to official website of trademark registration in india https://www.ipindia.gov.in/.Next click on the trademarks tab and then click on public search.There are 3 trademark search available-Wordmark, Vienna code and Phonetic.

On selection of each criteria, the keywords fields change as mentioned below.

Trademark Search Type	Criteria to be followed
Word mark	Enter word name, class & goods description and click search button
Phonetic	Enter name, class & goods description and click search button
Vienna code	Enter Vienna code and class and click search button
The result panel will show the list of trademarks that are registered/objected/abandoned/removed/withdrawn, which will help to know the viability of the trademark to be applied.

Word mark Search-During the time of this search three things to be taken care of and they are- choosing the word mark option, entering the word name and then class. It is to be remembered that same word mark will appear for that class only. For Search in other classes, class details has to be entered every time.

Phonetic search-Phonetic search helps when trademarks use the same pronunciation.Similar-sounding trademarks can create confusion, and one can use phonetic search for these. Therefore, you can follow the same step mentioned above for the phonetic search of the trademark.

Vienna code search-This type of search is performed to find a similar device mark. The trademark office provides a Vienna code for the trademark applicant having such mark. While doing a Vienna code search, one must enter the Vienna code followed by the class of the goods or service.

HOW TO DO TRADEMARK SEARCH?

The link for trademark search in India is:-

Go to IP India website:ipindia.gov.in
Select Trademark and click related links
On related links clickPublic search
On clicking public search, you are directed to external website, where you have to click, yes.
On clicking yes, a new page will open, where you need to select word mark or phonetic in Search type.
In the next step, enter the name of trademark you desire to conduct search in the first box. In the second box, you are required to enter the class (only one class at a time) as per the goods or services.
In the end, click search and immediately all the trademark which are similar or deceptively similar to the search mark will appear with all the details like applicant name, company name, type of mark,class, goods description,status of the mark, date of application etc. which will help to analyze the proposed mark.
The search results will provide information on trademarks that are already registered or pending in India that are similar to the one being searched for. However online trademark search sometimes may not be foolproof and so it is always safe to consult atrademark attorneyor agent to conduct a comprehensive search.
The comprehensive trademark search covers all relevant sources of trademark conflicts. A comprehensive trademark search includes searches from different sources like trade directories,social mediaplatforms, online marketplace and other useful databases. It includes searching not only for identical trademarks but also for trademarks which are deceptively similar to the trademark to be applied for. During the time of examination, the trademark registry considers similar trademarks when determining whether to register a trademark. A comprehensive search is required as it raises the alarm in case of conflicts before a trademark application is filed.

UTILITY OF TRADEMARK SEARCH RESULTS

Once the trademark search is completed, the next step is to analyze the search results to determine whether the proposed trademark is likely to be registered or not.

If the search results indicate that the mark to be applied is likely to conflict with any existing trademark, it is better to alter or abandon the mark to remain safe. On the other hand, if the trademark search results indicate that the mark to be applied is unique and not infringing any other existing mark then it is safe to file an application for registration of trademark. Basically trademark search is the very first step in trademark registration filing and skipping this step can create difficulties for any new application.

CONCLUSION

It is imperative to do a trademark search before the registration of the trademark. If all the boxes are ticked beforehand, theregistration processwill be smooth and easy. By taking the time to do things the correct way from the start, you may prevent difficulties and legal issues down the line.

Feel free to reach out to us atAgarwal Consultancy Servicesfor all your trademark registration-related queries and assistance!

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