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Notice of Trademark Opposition means an official document stating a disagreement or objection towards another party’s Trademark Registration. The purpose behind this is to safeguard the rights of the existing registered holder from registering alike or deceivingly similar Trademarks.

As per the Trade Marks Act, any person or a third party can file the notice for opposition against the advertised or re-advertised Trademark in the Trademark Journal within the time duration of four months from the date on which the application of Trademark was advertised or re-advertised in the Journal. In India, Notice of Opposition can be filed by any individual and he is not under any compulsion to have registration/application of Trademark to oppose any other Trademark. Moreover, after expiration of the time span of four months no such Opposition Notice can be filed and the registration process proceeds further. The Notice of Opposition can be filed through form TM-O along with the prescribed fees. 

Notice Of Opposition – Primary Components

The Notice of Opposition contains the following components -:

• An application number against which Opposition is sought has to be mentioned.
• The name of the applicant for the Trademark must be there.
• A list of goods and services in the Trademark Application against which opposition is sought must be indicated.
• In case the Opposition is filed by the owner of the earlier established Trademark then his name, address and the details of his Trademark must be there.
• In case the opposing party has no place of business in India then the name of the opponent along with their address for services in India must be there.
• If the earlier Trademark is the basis of opposition then a statement to that effect, a status indication, application number, filing date along with the priority of earlier Trademark must be mentioned.
• If the earlier Trademark is the well established mark then the description of it along with the country details in which the earlier Trademark is registered must be there.
• The grounds of opposition must be clearly specified.

The Registrar upon review and observance of the required paperwork serves the copy of notice of opposition to the applicant of the Trademark within three months from the date of receipt after which the applicant proceeds towards the filing of counter statement. 

Upon receiving such Notice of Opposition, the Applicant is required to submit a Counter Statement within two months from the date of receipt of the Notice of Opposition. Non-filing of Counter Statement within the stipulated time shall lead to the Application being abandoned by the Registry.

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