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Trademark Opposition is an essential stage in the process of Trademark Registration. The term “Trademark Opposition” means an Objection raised by the third party. It is essentially filed to oppose a Trademark advertised in the Trademark Journal in order to protect the Trademark from being misused by others within four months of the advertisement. This process initiates on filing the Notice of Opposition with the Trademark Registry and paying the prescribed fees of Rupees 2700/-.

Eligibility

As per the Trade Mark Act, 1999 any individual can oppose the Registration of a mark/application published in a Trademark Journal by the Registry. Such Opposition can be filed through Notice of Opposition in an adequate manner and with the prescribed fees. It is not necessary for the Opponent to be a registered Trademark owner for filing an Opposition Notice. Such Notice has to be filed within four  months from the date of publication of the mark in the Trademark Journal.

Grounds For Opposition

• The Trademark can be opposed on Absolute Grounds of refusal as specified under Section 9 of Trade Marks Act, 1999. An applied mark should be different from the existing Trademarks and must not hurt the public sentiments or hold obscene content. If the Examiner finds that the application does not comply with Section 9 of the Act then he/she can refuse its Registration. 
• As per Section 11 of Trade Marks Act, 1999 a Trademark can be opposed on Relative Grounds of refusal as well. An applied Trademark must not be similar to the existing Trademark and if the Examiner finds the similarity between two marks then he/she can refuse its registration on these grounds to avoid confusion among the purchasing public. The main motive behind this ground is to safeguard the Trademark owner’s right.
• Further, the Application can be opposed on various other grounds depending on the facts of matter. For instance, an Opposition can be filed by a well established Trademark owner, Copyright owner of an artistic work, geographical indications etc. 

Procedure For Trademark Opposition

Step 1: Notice of Opposition

Notice of Opposition has to be filed within four months by the opposing party against the mark published in the Trademark Journal by the Registry in the prescribed form and with the requisite fees.

Step 2: Counter Statement 

After a Trademark Opposition Notice is filed, a copy of the Opposition Notice would be served to the applicant by the Trademark Registrar. The counter statement must be filed by the applicant within two months of receiving the Opposition Notice and failure to which, may lead to change in the application status from “opposed” to “abandoned”. 

Step 3: Evidence

After the evidence stage, a registrar shall send notices regarding the date of hearing to both the parties which shall be at least after the duration of one month from the date of first notice. During hearing, Notice of Opposition, Counter-Statement and Evidence are taken into consideration by the Registrar and on such a basis the Registrar decides whether to accept the Opposition or to register the Trademark. If any of the party fails to appear for the hearing then the Registrar will rule against them. 

Step 4: Hearing 

Trademark Hearing is conducted by the Trademark Registrar for setting aside the objection raised after the Examination of Trademark Application. The parties to the process must appear physically or through a Trademark Attorney or Trademark Agent. Hearing takes place when the Registrar is not satisfied with the responses filed against the Objections raised in the final report in the procedure of Trademark Registration.

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