Under the First Schedule of the Trade Marks Rules, 2017, the official e-filing fee is ₹4,500 per class for an individual, startup, or Udyam-registered MSME, and ₹9,000 per class for any other applicant (partnership, LLP, or company that isn't MSME-registered). Filing on paper instead of online costs ₹500 more per class. This is a per-class fee — three classes means three times the fee.

A trademark registration is valid for 10 years from the date of filing, and can be renewed indefinitely in further 10-year terms by filing Form TM-R.

Yes — you can use the ™ symbol as soon as your application is filed, to signal a claimed (though not yet registered) mark. The ® symbol can legally only be used once the Registrar has actually granted registration.

The TM-A application itself is filed and acknowledged the same day, but full registration — assuming no objection or opposition — typically takes 8 to 24 months, depending on Trademark Registry workload and whether the application is examined smoothly.

You get an examination report citing the grounds — usually Section 9 (descriptiveness/lack of distinctiveness) or Section 11 (conflict with an earlier mark). A written reply must be filed within 30 days, with supporting evidence of use or distinctiveness where relevant; most objections are resolved without needing a hearing.

The Nice Classification system used by IP India groups goods into Classes 1–34 and services into Classes 35–45 — e.g. Class 25 covers clothing, Class 30 covers food staples, Class 35 covers advertising/business services, and Class 41 covers education/entertainment. Picking the wrong class is one of the most common — and costly — filing mistakes, since a rejected class isn't refunded.

You can register a wordmark (the name alone, in plain text) and a device mark (logo/label) as two separate applications, or just one. Registering the wordmark alone gives broader protection since it covers the name in any font or styling; a logo-only mark protects just that specific visual design.

A trademark registered with IP India is protected across the whole of India the moment it's granted — there's no separate state-level registration. Being Gujarat-based only affects which Registry office typically handles your filing (Ahmedabad falls under the Trademark Registry's jurisdiction), not the geographic scope of protection.

TM/™ signals an unregistered or pending claim to a mark — anyone can use it without filing anything, though it carries no statutory backing. ® can only be used once the mark is actually registered with IP India, and using it before registration is a punishable offence under Section 107 of the Trade Marks Act.

Yes — individuals, DPIIT-recognised startups, and Udyam-registered MSMEs pay ₹4,500 per class instead of the ₹9,000 per class other applicants pay — a 50% discount, provided the correct certificate is submitted with the application.