Trademark Application Status in India: How to Check and What It Means

You will find your trademark application status in the application record on GoLegally's trademark search. The search box accepts an application number as well as a trademark name.

How to check trademark status on GoLegally

Leave the search option on Name, enter the complete application number and open the result. The same box also accepts a trademark name. If you do not have the number, ask the agent who filed your application to share it with you.

The record gives the status along with the filing date, proprietor, class and goods or services. First compare the proprietor's name with the name in which the application was filed. Then check whether the record is for the trademark and business activity you intended to look up.

When you search by name, you may find more than one application belonging to the same business. For example, a business may have filed its name and logo separately. Both applications need to be checked, since the status of the name application does not tell you what has happened to the logo application.

If you want to see the applications belonging to a person or business, select Proprietor and enter that person's or business's name. For this search, you need the proprietor's name rather than the names of the individual brands.

The records come from the public Trade Marks Registry data indexed by GoLegally.

Trademark status meanings and what to do next

Accepted and Advertised is not the same as Registered. The application has been accepted and published, but there is still an opportunity for another person to oppose its registration. If your agent says that the trademark has been approved, ask which of these two stages the application has reached. You can then compare the answer with the status and the relevant document.

If the status is Objected, get the examination report from your agent. Read the objection in it and ask whether a reply has been filed. Objected is not the same as Refused. For a refusal you need the order, because the screenshot of a status does not explain why registration was refused.

If a reply was filed earlier, check what it was filed in response to. You may have answered the examiner's objection before publication, while the opposition was filed by somebody else after publication. The earlier reply does not serve as your answer to this later opposition. Rule 33 of the Trade Marks Rules, 2017 deals with examination. Rules 42–44 deal with opposition and the applicant's counterstatement. For the order of these stages, refer to the Registry's application workflow.

Formalities Chk Fail: a correction or additional fee is required

Formalities Chk Fail does not tell you how much to pay. That has to be checked from the deficiency notice and your earlier payment. An amount quoted by the agent may include professional charges, so ask how much of it is the Registry fee.

Use the official fee schedule to check the amount against your receipt. These are the e-filing charges:

For example, one mark filed in two classes by an individual has an application fee of ₹9,000. The same filing by an applicant in the other category costs ₹18,000. The ₹900 amendment fee is separate from either amount.

The amendment request is made in Form TM-M under Rule 37, before registration. It can also be made after acceptance. You cannot use the request to substantially alter the trademark or substitute goods or services which were not in the application as filed. If the notice asks for an amendment as well as a fee difference, both requirements need attention.

Send Back to EDP or missing documents

Send Back to EDP concerns a problem with the application data or the digitised documents. EDP means Electronic Data Processing. You may, for instance, have submitted a document which has not been digitised properly. The government FAQ says the status will remain until the EDP Section rectifies the error.

The FAQ asks you to report a wrong entry to the concerned branch office through IP India's Open House Help Desk. The same route is given for a document which was not digitised, including an offline document which was not uploaded. Keep the copy you filed so that the branch can be told which entry or document you are referring to.

You should compare the filed copy with the entry before asking for a correction. If the error was present in your application when you submitted it, ask your agent whether an amendment is required. Reporting an entry which does not match the filed copy is a different matter. Send Back to EDP does not itself mean Refused, and its correction does not mean Registered.

Formalities Chk Pass: checking the examination queue

Your filing has cleared the formalities check when it shows Formalities Chk Pass. It has not been accepted by the examiner at this point. If you are waiting at this stage, you can look up its position in the examination queue using the application number.

The Trade Marks Registry queue page has a General Queue List and an Expedite Queue List. For an ordinary application, use the General list. Choose Examination Queue, followed by Application Number, enter the number and select Search. The Expedite list is for applications under expedited processing.

For a worked example, we searched application 7919870 in the General Examination Queue on 10 September 2026. The result was marked as last updated on 9 September 2026 and showed these figures:

The 556 working days in this example relate to examination. An application may still have to go through an examination reply, publication and any opposition before it is registered. The date on which the certificate will be issued therefore cannot be worked out from this figure.

The queue page says that positions can change because of TM-M filings, expedited requests, court orders, hearing notices and adjournments. Comparing the two queue numbers does not establish how many applications will be examined every day.

We also searched the same number under Consideration of Reply (MIS-R). That search returned No record found, although the number had a result in the examination queue. So check which queue you selected before concluding that an application is missing.

Trademark hearing status: what to check after filing your reply

Ask your agent for a copy of the reply which was filed and the filing acknowledgement. Check the application number and the submission date on the documents. You may have approved a draft earlier, but you need the copy which went to the Registry. The bill for preparing a reply does not give you this information.

The Registrar has to consider a reply received within the prescribed time. At this point you are waiting for the response to be considered, not necessarily for the certificate. The application can be accepted after the reply is considered. There may also be a hearing. Rule 33 provides for an opportunity of hearing where the response is not satisfactory or the applicant has requested a hearing.

There are separate queues for these stages on the page used above. Consideration of Reply (MIS-R) is the option for replies. Hearing Queue(Show Cause) is the option for show-cause hearings. If your agent tells you that the hearing date has been given, ask for the notice as well. You will need to know the date and the directions in that notice, rather than only the queue position.

Where to look for a notice

For notifications dated 3 March 2025 onwards, use the Registry's Disposal & Notification Dynamic Utility. Choose Application Number under Filter Type and enter your number in Enter Text. Fill in the CAPTCHA in the other box. Get Details runs the search.

Check that the notice belongs to your application. Also ask your agent whether the date has since been changed and obtain the later notice if there is one. In case nothing is found in the search, your next enquiry should be about the correspondence received by the agent. Do not assume from an empty result that no notice was issued.

Can you pay for faster trademark processing?

Yes. Once you have the official application number, you can make a request in Form TM-M for expedited processing. You will have to pay an additional fee for this. Before you agree to a quotation, check whether the agent is proposing to file this request and whether the fee quoted is for one class or more than one class.

These are the electronic-filing fees in the Registry's official fee schedule, checked on 10 September 2026. A physical request is not allowed. Your agent's professional charges are separate, so ask for a breakdown if you have been given a single amount.

Rule 34 says that the application is ordinarily to be examined within three months of the expedited request. It also provides for faster handling of the steps which follow examination. These include consideration of your reply, a show-cause hearing if required, publication and any opposition, up to final disposal. The later steps remain subject to the guidelines which the Registrar may publish in the Trade Marks Journal. The Registrar can also limit the number of expedited applications by publishing the limit in the Journal.

The distinction to remember is between examination and registration. You may still have to answer an objection or deal with an opposition even after paying for expedition. If the offer made to you is registration within three months, ask the agent to explain how that date has been arrived at. Rule 34 does not assure a certificate within that period.

Check the reply deadline before waiting for an update

If you are waiting for a change in status, first make sure that any reply due from you has been attended to. Ask your agent for the notice or examination report, together with the email by which it was sent. You can then check the date from which the time for replying is to be counted. The table below shows the difference between these two communications.

For example, the email forwarded to you by your agent may carry a date later than the original communication. If you count from the forwarding date, you may think that more time is available than you actually have. Rule 19(2) treats service on your authorised agent as service on you, and Rule 18 provides for an email to be deemed served when it is sent. Ask the agent to check the original communication with you before you decide when to send the reply.

The periods in the table come from Rules 31 and 33. Rule 31 is subject to the prescribed-fee requirement in Rule 10(2). It says that an application shall be treated as abandoned if the applicant does not remedy the notified deficiency within the period. For failure to respond to an examination report, Rule 33(4) says that the Registrar may treat the application as abandoned.

Both rules refer to one month. Neither gives you 30 days from the day you happen to see the status online. If your agent says that a reply was filed earlier, ask for its acknowledgement as well so that the submission date can be checked. In case you find that the date may have passed without a reply, have those documents reviewed promptly. A screenshot of the status will not show the complete correspondence which needs to be examined.

Refused or Abandoned: can the decision be reviewed?

Ask your agent for the order if your own application is Refused or Abandoned. Take the notices and copies of the replies along with it when you seek advice. These papers explain the history of your application and the reason for the decision. You cannot work out the remedy from Refused or Abandoned alone.

There is a provision for review of the Registrar's decision under Rule 119. The request is made in Form TM-M and has to state the grounds on which review is sought. It is due within one month of the decision. The Registrar can allow up to one further month on request, but you do not get that extension automatically.

Have the dates checked when you give the papers to your adviser, together with whether review is available in your case. The Registrar can grant or reject the request. Sending the form does not mean that the application is restored or that the mark is registered.

Can you use a name if its trademark application is abandoned?

You should not take Abandoned to mean that the name is available. That is the outcome of an application, whereas the business may have rights arising from its use of the name. Filing a new application of your own does not remove those rights.

An Abandoned application belonging to somebody else needs to be checked in the same way. The person who filed it may still be selling goods or providing services under that name. You can search for the name and for the proprietor on GoLegally's trademark search to see whether there are other relevant records. The use of the name in business also needs to be checked before you decide that it is available.

This is because an unregistered trademark is not necessarily without protection. Section 27 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 does not allow an infringement action for an unregistered trademark, but it preserves action for passing off. Passing off concerns the representation of your goods or services as those of somebody else. There is also protection for continuous prior use under Section 34, subject to its conditions. A later registration does not automatically defeat that protection. So the use of the mark and the evidence supporting that use are important even where the registration record does not give you the complete answer.

You should not use the registered symbol to claim Indian registration while your Indian application is still pending. Section 107 of the Act restricts falsely representing a trademark as registered. If your own application is Refused or Abandoned, obtain the report, notices, replies and order and have them reviewed. The next step will depend on the reason for the decision and the history of the application, not only on the status which you see in the search.

Registered status with a renewal notice

You may receive a renewal notice while the status is Registered. The notice does not mean that the trademark has been removed. Form RG-3 is sent before expiry where the Registry has not received the prescribed renewal application and fee, under Rule 58. Check the expiry date in your record against the notice.

If your agent says that renewal has already been filed, ask for the acknowledgement and check the trademark number on it. You should also obtain the renewal record when it is available. A bill paid to the agent is not the same as the acknowledgement of filing.

The renewal application is made in Form TM-R. This concerns a registered trademark, not an application which was abandoned before registration. Where the expiry date has already passed, have the dates and correspondence checked promptly. There are provisions for late renewal and restoration in Rules 59 and 60, but the Registered label alone will not establish that you are within the applicable period.