Trademark Renewal in India: Deadlines & Grace Period

A business registers its trademark in 2014. The certificate arrives in 2016. In 2024, someone in the accounts team searches for the renewal date. They remember receiving the certificate in 2016 and calculate ten years forward from that year, marking 2026 as the renewal deadline. The certificate itself states 2014 as the date of registration, the original application date. But no one checks. The actual deadline was 2024. The trademark had already lapsed.

This is one of the most common and most avoidable ways a registered trademark disappears. Section 23(1) expressly provides that once registered, the mark is registered as of the date of making the application, and that date is deemed to be the date of registration. It means that tthe ten-year validity period runs from the date of the original application, not from the date the registration certificate was issued. When the two dates are years apart, which they often are given how long the registration process takes, the year the certificate arrived creates a false sense of security.

Trademark renewal is not complicated. But the windows within which it has to happen are strictwith the consequences of missing each one escalate quickly, and a mark that lapses entirely cannot be recovered. What follows is how Section 25 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 actually works, and what each missed deadline means in practice.

What Section 25 Sets Out

Under Section 25(1) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, a registered trademark is valid for ten years from the date of registration, which in Indian practice means the date of the original application filing, not the date the registration certificate was issued. The registration can be renewed indefinitely in further ten-year blocks, which is what makes a trademark fundamentally different from a patent: there is no maximum term, no expiry that cannot be extended, as long as the renewal obligation is met every ten years.

Renewal is filed using Form TM-R, submitted through the IP India e-filing portal. The application can be filed by the registered proprietor or by an authorised agent or attorney on their behalf.

Window 1: On-Time Renewal

The renewal window opens one year before the expiry date. Filing during this window means no surcharge and no additional procedural requirements. The trademark continues without interruption, and the new ten-year period runs from the date the previous registration expired, not from the date the renewal application was filed. This maintains continuity of protection.

Most businesses with active trademark portfolios file renewal applications approximately six months before expiry, which gives enough time to address any procedural issues without approaching the deadline. Leaving renewal to the final weeks before expiry creates unnecessary risk, since portal issues, documentation gaps, or administrative delays can push a filing past the deadline.

Window 2: The Grace Period

Under Section 25(3) of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, if the renewal application is not filed before the expiry date, the trademark is not immediately removed from the register. A six-month grace period follows expiry, during which the mark can still be renewed by filing Form TM-R with the standard renewal fee plus a prescribed surcharge.

The trademark remains on the register and remains enforceable throughout the grace period. A registered proprietor whose mark is within the grace period still has full standing to initiate infringement proceedings, oppose conflicting applications, and exercise all rights attached to registration.

One important legal point that is frequently overlooked: before the Registrar removes a trademark from the register after the grace period, the Registrar is required to send a notice to the registered proprietor in Form RG-3 at the address of service, informing the proprietor of the approaching expiry date and the conditions for renewal as per Rule 58 of the Trade Marks Rules, 2017. The Delhi High Court has consistently held, including in Union of India v. Malhotra Book Depot 2013 (54) PTC 165 (Del) (DB) and reaffirmed in Vijay Kumar Salwani v. Union of India, that this notice obligation under Section 25(3) is mandatory, not merely directory. A removal carried out without dispatching the required notice is procedurally defective and can be challenged.

However, a July 2026 Bombay High Court ruling added an important practical nuance: the Registrar is required to prove proper addressing and dispatch of the Form RG-3 notice to the registered address for service, not actual delivery or physical acknowledgment by the proprietor. Once the Registry evidences proper dispatch through official outward registers, a statutory presumption of service arises under Section 27 of the General Clauses Act, 1897. A proprietor who claims non-receipt of the notice cannot defeat this presumption if the Registry proves the notice was dispatched to the correct address. This makes maintaining a current and accurate address of service with the Trademark Registry a practical necessity: a notice sent to an outdated address may be deemed served even if it never physically reaches the proprietor.

Window 3: Restoration After Removal

If the grace period passes without renewal, the Registrar removes the trademark from the register and publishes the removal in the Trademark Journal. From this point, the mark is no longer registered, and the former proprietor loses the statutory rights that registration conferred. 

Section 25(4) of the Act provides a final window: a restoration application can be filed after six months and within one year from the date of expiry of the last registration. The grace period covers the first six months after expiry. The restoration window covers the period between six months and twelve months after expiry. The two windows are sequential, not overlapping: grace period renewal keeps the mark on the register continuously, while restoration is available only after the mark has actually been removed following the end of the grace period.

Restoration is not automatic. The Registrar has discretionary power to grant or refuse a restoration application, and is required to consider the interests of any other person who may have been affected by the removal, for example, a business that began using or applying to register the same mark after seeing it removed from the register. The Registrar may grant restoration unconditionally, grant it subject to conditions, or refuse it. A restoration application that does not provide adequate explanation for why the renewal was missed is at greater risk of refusal or conditional grant.

If restoration is granted, the trademark's protection is extended for a further ten years from the date the previous registration expired, maintaining continuity. If restoration is refused, or if the one-year window passes without an application being filed, the trademark is permanently gone. Recovering it at that point means starting the entire registration process again from scratch: a new application, a new examination, a new publication period, a new potential opposition window, and a new filing date. The original filing date, which may represent years of priority, is lost entirely.

What Happens When a Lapsed Mark Is Spotted by a Competitor

When a trademark is removed from the register and published in the Trademark Journal, it becomes publicly visible as an available mark. A competitor monitoring the Trademark Journal, or conducting a trademark search before filing their own application, will see the removal.

At that point, the competitor can file a new application for the same or a similar mark. If they do so before the original owner files a restoration application, the restoration application and the new filing can come into conflict. The Registrar, in assessing the restoration application, must consider the interests of the competing applicant. Depending on the circumstances, the restoration may be refused or granted subject to conditions that limit its scope.

This is the scenario that makes prompt action critical once a renewal deadline has been missed. Every day between the removal and a restoration application is a day in which a competitor can establish a competing position.

Non-Use and Cancellation: The Risk That Runs Alongside Renewal

Renewal keeps a trademark on the register. It does not protect against a separate challenge: cancellation for non-use.

Under Section 47 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, any person can apply to cancel a registered trademark if it has not been used in India for a continuous period of five years and three months from the date of registration. Renewal of the mark does not prevent this challenge if use has not been maintained.

A business that renews its trademark every ten years but stops using the mark commercially for more than five years and three months remains vulnerable to a cancellation application filed by a third party, even with a valid, renewed registration on the register. The defence against such a cancellation application is evidence of genuine commercial use during the relevant period: invoices, advertising records, product packaging, and any other dated material that demonstrates the mark has been actively used in the market.

Maintaining renewal and maintaining commercial use are both required to keep a trademark fully protected. One without the other leaves a gap.

Renewal Strategy for Portfolios Across Multiple Classes

Businesses that hold trademark registrations across multiple classes face a specific renewal management challenge: different classes may have been registered at different times, meaning their renewal deadlines fall on different dates. A business that registered its core wordmark in 2010 and added a device mark in 2015 has two separate renewal cycles to track.

For companies with large or growing trademark portfolios, a systematic approach to renewal tracking is worth building into standard IP management practice. This typically involves maintaining a live register of all trademark registrations with their expiry dates, setting calendar reminders at twelve months and six months before each expiry, and engaging trademark counsel to manage filings rather than relying on internal administrative processes that may not have visibility into all registrations.

Trademark monitoring services provide systematic coverage of the trademark register, including renewal status tracking, which is particularly useful for businesses managing portfolios across multiple classes or jurisdictions without dedicated internal IP counsel.

M&P IP Protectors is an IPR law firm advising businesses on trademark renewal, trademark portfolio management, and the full lifecycle of trademark protection across India. If a renewal deadline is approaching or has already passed, schedule a consultation with our trademark registration attorneys to assess your options before the restoration window closes.