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Practice
International Filings
Taking Indian brands and inventions to the world, and bringing international rights holders to India.
Overview
More than three hundred of the firm's clients are based outside India. For them, the firm acts as a single point of contact for filing, prosecution and enforcement in India.
For Indian businesses expanding abroad, the firm plans protection country by country, using the international systems where they are efficient and working with trusted associates in markets including Europe, North America, the Middle East and South Asia.
What we do
Services
PCT Applications
A single PCT application keeps your options open in more than 150 countries for a period of time. The real decisions come at the national phase, normally 30 or 31 months from the first filing date. We prepare the international application and help you decide which national phases are worth entering, in India and abroad.
Madrid Protocol
An Indian trade mark application or registration can serve as the base for an international application under the Madrid Protocol. One filing, one fee schedule and one renewal cycle then cover the member countries you choose. We file and manage these registrations and respond to refusals from individual national offices. The international registration depends on the Indian base mark for its first five years.
Paris Convention Filings
If you file first in India, the Paris Convention lets you claim that date in other member countries, provided you file there in time. The priority period is 12 months for patents and 6 months for trade marks and designs. We diarise these dates from the filing date, because a priority period cannot be revived once it has expired.
Filing Strategy
A patent or trade mark granted in India has no effect in Brazil or Germany, so the question is which countries justify the cost. We look at where you sell, where your goods are made, where copying is a real risk and what your budget allows, then recommend a filing plan in order of priority.
Foreign Associate Management
Each country has its own procedures, deadlines and fees, and a local attorney is needed to handle them. We work with trusted associates across Europe, North America, the Middle East, South Asia and beyond. We instruct them, supervise their work and report to you, so your point of contact stays the same in every country.
Inbound Work for Foreign Firms
More than 300 of our clients are outside India. Overseas companies and law firms send us their Indian patent, trade mark, design and copyright work, from first filing through prosecution to enforcement. Our offices in Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad handle local procedure, and we report back in clear language.
Our approach
How a matter progresses
The usual course of a international filings matter in India, from first instructions to a final outcome.
Jurisdiction plan
We identify the markets that matter for sales, manufacture and enforcement, and set a budget and timetable for each.
Base filing
We secure a filing date in India first. It sets the priority date and opens a 12-month window for patents, or six months for trade marks and designs.
International application
Where efficient, we use a single application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty or the Madrid Protocol instead of separate national filings.
National entry and examination
PCT applications enter the national phase within 30 or 31 months of priority. Our associates handle local examination under our supervision.
Grant and portfolio upkeep
We collect the registrations, docket every renewal across jurisdictions and coordinate enforcement where infringement arises.
Questions
FAQs
General information only. For advice on your circumstances, please speak to an attorney.
Is there a single worldwide trade mark or patent?
Can the firm act for foreign companies in India?
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