The name you trade under is probably your most valuable asset, and the one least likely to be documented
Most Indian businesses reach a certain size before anyone asks who actually owns the brand, the product design, the website or the code. The answer is often uncomfortable: a mark in use for years but never registered, a logo whose copyright still sits with the freelancer who drew it, a product shown at a trade fair before the design was filed. Each of those is fixable early and expensive later. These pages set out what is protectable in India, how each right is actually obtained and kept, and what your intellectual property is worth once you need to raise against it, license it or sell it.
- Written against the current Rules, forms and fees as at August 2026, not a reproduction of what was accurate five years ago
- Every fee, deadline and statutory reference on these pages is checked against the Registry or the bare Act, and is listed in a claims register
- Covers the commercial side that a purely legal page stops short of: valuation, licensing, transfer pricing and the tax treatment of IP income
What we actually do differently
We start from what you already own, not from a form
The first question in almost every IP engagement is not what to file. It is what exists, who owns it, and whether the paperwork says so. A brand in use since 2019, a logo drawn by an agency, code written by a contractor and a design already on your website are four different legal positions, and only one of them is fixed by filing an application.
Current, and checked
Indian IP procedure moved in 2024, 2025 and 2026: the patent examination request window went from 48 months to 31, the working statement went from annual to once every three financial years, the guidance on software patentability was rewritten, and the Nice classification edition changed on 1 January 2026. We check the Registry rather than repeating what is widely published.
We say when something is proposed rather than settled
There is a live consultation on rewriting the Designs Act, and a draft amendment to the trade marks rules. Neither is law. Where something is pending, we say so, rather than letting a proposal read as the current position.
How an engagement is put together
Exactitude International advises on intellectual property as part of a wider advisory relationship. We handle the commercial and structural side: clearance strategy, portfolio planning, valuation, licensing and royalty structuring, the tax and GST treatment of intellectual property, and the transaction work in which intellectual property is an asset.
Filing, prosecution and contentious work before the Registry, the Patent Office and the courts are carried out by registered trademark agents, patent agents and advocates with whom we work, and we manage that process for the client end to end. Sections 145 of the Trade Marks Act and 126 of the Patents Act restrict who may act before those offices, and we are clear about where that line falls. What it means for a client is that you deal with one team on the commercial question and do not have to translate it into a filing strategy yourself.
What does not vary is the sequence. An IP engagement at Exactitude International starts with an audit of what the business already has and who owns it, moves to a filing and protection plan scoped by budget and by risk, and then settles into the recurring work that actually keeps rights alive: renewal diaries, watch on the weekly Trade Marks Journal, and recordal of every change of ownership as it happens rather than in a rush before a transaction.
Five guides, following the life of a right
Guides 1, 2 and 3 follow a trademark from the decision to adopt a name through to defending it. Guide 4 covers everything that is not a trademark. Guide 5 is written for a different reader inside the same business, the finance function, and deals with what intellectual property is worth and how it is taxed. Start with whichever matches the question in front of you.
Trademark Search and Clearance
What the Registry's search tools do and do not show, how the 45 classes work, and why a clean search result is not the same as a clean answer in a country that still protects prior use.
Trademark Registration in India and Abroad
The filing route end to end: form, fees, the concessional rate, examination, the four month opposition window, and what registration actually gives you. Plus filing outside India through the Madrid Protocol, and the separate position of a foreign brand owner coming the other way.
Trademark Renewal, Assignment and Enforcement
Renewal windows and the point past which a mark cannot be recovered, transferring and licensing a mark properly, the non-use rule, and what enforcement realistically looks like before anyone goes to court.
Patents, Designs and Copyright
What is patentable in India and what section 3(k) rules out for software, why a design must be filed before the product is shown to anyone, and the copyright question that breaks more due diligence reviews than any other: who owns work done by a contractor.
IP Valuation, Licensing and Tax
Written for a CFO or finance head rather than a brand owner. What can and cannot go on the balance sheet, when a registered valuer is legally required, withholding on royalty at home and abroad, the patent box, transfer pricing on intangibles, and GST.
Send an enquiry
Tell us roughly where you are: adopting a name, filing, renewing, cleaning up ownership before a transaction, or working out what the portfolio is worth. A partner replies within one business day.
This page is general information, not professional advice. Indian intellectual property law, procedure and fees change frequently, and the Income-tax Act 2025 replaced the 1961 Act for tax years from 2026-27, and how any of it applies depends on your own facts. Take professional advice before acting on anything on this page. We are happy to be that adviser, but we do not act on a web page, ours or anyone else's, without one.