Trademark Renewal & Restoration

Overview

A registered trademark is not permanent by default. Section 25(1) of the Trade Marks Act 1999 fixes the initial term at ten years from the date of registration, and Section 25(2) lets it be renewed for successive ten-year periods indefinitely — but only if someone actually files the renewal on time. Founders who registered a mark years ago and moved on to running the business are usually the ones caught out: the ten years pass quietly, and the first sign of trouble is a customer, an investor, or a competitor pointing out that the registration has lapsed.

The trademark renewal timeline runs on three distinct tracks, and knowing which one you are on changes what needs to happen. Rule 57 of the Trade Marks Rules 2017 lets you file Form TM-R any time up to one year before expiry — the clean, on-time route, with no surcharge. Miss that and you are not immediately out: Section 25(3) gives a six-month grace period after expiry in which the same Form TM-R, now with a surcharge, still prevents removal. Only once both windows close does the Registrar remove the mark from the register and advertise the removal in the Trade Marks Journal under Rule 59.

Even removal is not automatically final. Section 25(4) allows restoration of a removed mark, on the same Form TM-R, if filed after six months but within one year of the original expiry date — Rule 60 requires the Registrar to weigh any intervening third-party interests before granting it. Renewal itself asks less of you than the original registration did: no proof of use, no user affidavit, just the fee, a copy of the registration certificate, the original application copy, and a Power of Attorney if an agent is filing. See our trademark registration service for the first-time filing this renewal cycle follows.

One caveat worth stating plainly: before removing a mark, Rule 58 requires the Registrar to send a notice — commonly still called the O-3 notice after its old form number, now issued as Form RG-3 — to the registered proprietor's address for service. The Delhi High Court has treated this notice as mandatory rather than a formality, and has ordered restoration outside the normal one-year window where the Registry could not show it was sent. That is a safety net for a genuinely undelivered notice, not a reason to treat your own renewal date as optional — the address on file with the Registry is what makes the reminder reach you at all.

Who it’s for

• Trademark owners approaching the ten-year anniversary of registration, or unsure exactly when it falls
• Businesses that discovered their mark has already expired and need to know whether the surcharge window or the restoration window still applies
• Founders buying or being assigned a registered trademark where a renewal is pending or overdue
• Companies that received (or worry they never received) the Registrar's pre-expiry notice and want their address for service checked and corrected
• Anyone wanting to verify a trademark's current renewal status before relying on it, licensing it, or negotiating around it

Eligibility & requirements

• On-time renewal under Rule 57: Form TM-R filed at any time not more than one year before the expiration of the current ten-year registration
• Late renewal with surcharge under Section 25(3): the same Form TM-R, plus surcharge, filed within six months after the expiry date, before the Registrar removes the mark
• Restoration and renewal under Section 25(4)/Rule 60: Form TM-R filed after six months but within one year of expiry, once the mark has already been removed from the register
• Beyond one year from expiry, restoration is no longer available and the only route back is a fresh application — with a new filing date, no benefit of the original priority, and full exposure to fresh examination and third-party opposition
• No proof of use, declaration, or affidavit is required for renewal at any of these three stages — only the fee and the supporting form
• The individual/startup/small-enterprise fee discount that applies to original registration does not extend to renewal

How CapEasy handles it

1. We calendar your registration date the moment we take on the mark, so the renewal window opens with notice, not as a surprise
2. We check the mark's current status on the IP India eRegister and confirm the address for service on record is current, so the Registrar's Rule 58 notice actually reaches you
3. We prepare Form TM-R for the applicable track — on-time renewal, renewal with surcharge, or restoration and renewal — with the registration certificate and original application copy attached
4. You review and sign the Power of Attorney (Form TM-48) where we are filing as your agent
5. We file Form TM-R on the IP India e-filing portal and track the application through to acknowledgment
6. The Registry issues its notice of renewal or restoration to the registered proprietor and any registered user, and advertises the fact in the Trade Marks Journal
7. Where the mark is also being assigned, we coordinate the Form TM-P recording of the new proprietor alongside the renewal so the right name ends up on the register

Documents you’ll typically need

• Copy of the trademark registration certificate
• Copy of the original TM-A application as filed
• Applicant/proprietor identity and address proof matching the register
• Power of Attorney (Form TM-48), if we are filing as your agent
• Proof of the surcharge payment, where the filing falls in the six-month late-renewal window
• Assignment deed and Form TM-P, if ownership is changing alongside the renewal

CapEasy is a private consultancy and is not affiliated with any government authority. We help you assess eligibility and prepare and file your application; eligibility and approval depend on your specifics and the relevant department’s discretion.