Madrid explained: this guide covers what it means, who it applies to, the step-by-step process, documents required, fees, due dates and penalties in India — so you can stay compliant with confidence and avoid costly mistakes.
A foreign brand owner who names India in an international registration does not receive an Indian registration automatically. The Trade Marks Registry records the registration, examines it as if it were a national application, and, if it finds a ground of refusal, notifies a provisional refusal to the International Bureau. Sections 6 and 7 of the Registry's Guidelines for functioning under the Madrid Protocol describe this. The article explains the working steps for a holder or an Indian agent, and links the live Act and Rules. A reply to a provisional refusal is, in substance, a trademark objection reply prepared for an examiner.
The Registry records every international registration that designates India, allots an IRDI reference, and examines it under the Act and Rules. If the mark cannot be protected, the examiner drafts a provisional refusal, a supervising officer approves it, and it goes to the International Bureau. The holder then has the same rights and remedies as if it had filed in India directly and should act through an Indian agent. The Act requires the refusal to be notified within eighteen months.
The Guidelines are the Registry's internal guidance and do not have the force of law; the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and the Trade Marks Rules, 2017 as now in force prevail. Check current practice on ipindia.gov.in before relying on any step below.
The Act and the 2017 Rules
The Guidelines cite the Trade Marks Rules, 2002; the numbering changed in 2017. Under section 36E, the Registrar records the registration, may refuse protection after hearing the holder if the holder so wishes, and must inform the International Bureau within eighteen months. Rules 68 and 69 create the Record of Particulars of International Registration, give an entry in it the same effect in India as an entry in the Register, and say the advice from the International Bureau is ordinarily examined within two months.
The Guidelines print six months for examination. That figure belongs to the 2002 Rules and has been overtaken by the two months in rule 69(1); the rule itself says "ordinarily", so it is a target and not a promise.
How the Registry receives and records the registration
The Introduction and Section 6 explain that the International Bureau first checks a new application for formalities only, including classification and whether the list of goods and services is comprehensible. If it finds no irregularity, it records the mark, publishes it in its own gazette and notifies each designated country. For India, the Registry then does the following:
- the notifications received from the International Bureau are sorted by an officer designated for the purpose;
- new international registrations designating India (the Guidelines call them births) are entered in the Registry's record, called the Record of Particulars of International Registrations;
- if the mark has figurative elements and the International Bureau has not codified them, the Registry completes Vienna codification by adding sections as a third level;
- the filing date in the Registry's system is the date of the international registration, and the notification date is the date on which the Registry electronically receives the notification;
- a designated officer verifies the data entry;
- a reference with the prefix IRDI is generated for each registration.
The two dates are different things. The filing date is the date of the international registration, while the notification date is the later day on which the Registry received the notice, and the Guidelines use each for its own purpose.
How the examination proceeds
The Guidelines provide that an international registration designating India is examined under the Act and Rules in the same way as a national application. Three practical points follow.
Place in the queue. An IRDI is examined when national applications with the same filing date as the international registration are being examined. Where India is designated later, it is examined with national applications whose filing date matches the date of the notification. This is the same serial principle as for national files; see our note on the Registry's stages of processing.
Collective and certification marks. The examiner looks for draft regulations. Rule 72 of the 2017 Rules requires the holder to send them directly to the Registrar, not through the International Bureau; the period is in the rule.
What the examiner decides. The examiner asks whether the mark could be refused under the Act and Rules, whether on absolute grounds, as in section 9, or relative grounds, as in section 11. If it could, the examiner generates a draft provisional refusal in the system. A supervising officer approves it or returns it with remarks for re-examination, and the examiner must then re-examine. When an examination report with objections is approved, the status of the IRDI is changed to objected, and a provisional refusal based on the examination is communicated to the International Bureau through the system.
If the examiner finds no objection, the supervising officer approves the report and the international registration is advertised in a separate part of the Trade Marks Journal, which rule 69(3) says is ordinarily within six months of receipt of the advice.
| Step | Who | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Record and verify | Designated officer | IRDI reference, filing date fixed |
| Examine | Examiner | Objection found or none |
| Approve | Supervising officer | Approves or returns for re-examination |
| Notify | Registry system | Provisional refusal to the International Bureau, or advertisement |
After the provisional refusal
The International Bureau records the provisional refusal, tells the holder, and publishes it in its gazette, stating whether the refusal is total or partial. The Guidelines then make several points for the holder.
- The holder has the same rights and remedies as if the application had been filed directly in India.
- The holder may appoint a local agent who knows Indian law and practice, and should expect to do so.
- The holder may limit the goods or services at the International Bureau, by deleting items or narrowing the scope, to overcome the objection. If the Indian law allows the limitation, the Registry enters it in its record.
- If a hearing is needed, a hearing is fixed and conducted by a designated officer. Hearings under the 2017 Rules follow rules 114 and 115.
- If the holder does not respond within the time stated, does not ask for more time, and does not limit the goods, or if the objections cannot be waived even after the response and a hearing, the Registry confirms the provisional refusal to the International Bureau.
The Guidelines mention a short reply period of their own. Rule 69 gives no such period and does not copy the one-month rule that applies to a national examination report. The time to answer comes from the Madrid regulations and from the notice, so a holder's agent should read the notification and diarise the date before doing anything else.
Where the objections are met, or the holder succeeds at the hearing, the Guidelines say the Registry may move the registration to publication in the Journal. That connects to the next stage, in our article on advertisement and opposition.
A worked example
Lumora Teas SA, a foreign company, designates India for a word mark in the class for tea. The Registry records the registration and generates an IRDI reference. The filing date is the date of international registration. The examiner finds an earlier Indian mark for tea with a similar word and drafts a provisional refusal. The supervising officer approves it, and it goes to the International Bureau, which passes it to Lumora. Lumora appoints an Indian agent, who answers the objection on similarity and, to be safe, asks the International Bureau to narrow the list to packaged herbal tea. The officer reads the limitation into the record and, after hearing the agent, withdraws the refusal for the narrowed list.
Checklist for the holder
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| On notification | Note the IRDI reference and the notification date |
| On provisional refusal | Appoint an Indian agent and diarise the date in the notice |
| In reply | Meet the Indian ground of refusal; consider limiting the list at the International Bureau |
| After reply | Prepare for a hearing |
Need help with a provisional refusal?
A provisional refusal is answered in India, on Indian grounds, by an agent on the Indian record. Our trademark objection reply team can analyse the ground and prepare the response and the hearing papers.
Key takeaways
- The Registry records each registration in its own record and allots an IRDI reference.
- The filing date is the date of the international registration.
- Examination follows the Act and Rules, in the same order as national files of the same date.
- A provisional refusal is drafted by the examiner, approved by a supervising officer and sent to the International Bureau.
- The holder has the same remedies as a direct filer and should engage an Indian agent.
- Examination is ordinarily within two months under rule 69, and the refusal is due within eighteen months under section 36E.
Read next
- Madrid Protocol Guidelines: Advertisement, Opposition and Final Decision on International Registrations Designating India
- Madrid Protocol Guidelines: Renewal, Change of Holder, Limitation and Corrections
- Madrid Protocol: Designating India in International Registration
- Section 36E: International Registrations Where India Has Been Designated
Disclaimer: Based on the documents of the Trade Marks Registry named in the article (the draft Manual of Trade Marks Practice and Procedure published for comments on 10 March 2015, the Registry's standard operating procedures and its Guidelines for functioning under the Madrid Protocol), as consulted on 4 October 2026. A draft is not final; none of these documents has the force of law; the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and the Trade Marks Rules, 2017 as now in force prevail and current practice should be checked on ipindia.gov.in. This article is general information, not legal advice; check the official text before acting.