A company in Zurich, Oslo, Reykjavik or Vaduz files an Indian trademark the same way any other foreign applicant does. The EFTA-India Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement does not change that. There is no mutual recognition of registrations and no shortcut through the Indian register. You file in India, under Indian law, and the trade deal is a reason to get on with it rather than a change to the process.
Here is what the process actually involves.
Rights in India come from the register
India gives real weight to prior use. A business that used a mark first can challenge a later registration and can sue for passing off. But the right you can rely on commercially, the one that supports an infringement action, a customs recordal or a marketplace takedown, is the registered one.
For a Swiss or Norwegian company that is not yet trading in India, that has a simple consequence: you have no use to fall back on, so the application is the whole of your position. File before you appoint a distributor, before you exhibit, and before your name appears on an Indian marketplace.
Search before you file
Indian examiners cite earlier marks readily, and a citation costs you months. Search the Indian register for identical and similar marks in your classes, and look for phonetic near matches, because transliteration into Indian scripts produces conflicts that a spelling-based search misses.
Start with a free trademark check, and see India Trademark Search for how to read the register yourself.
You need an Indian address for service
An applicant with no principal place of business in India must give an address for service in India. In practice that means filing through an Indian trademark agent or advocate, who becomes the address on record and receives everything the office sends, including the examination report and any opposition.
Two things follow. The office will not chase you at your Swiss or Norwegian address, so a missed communication is a missed deadline. And if you change agents, the address on record has to be updated or notices go to the old one.
Power of attorney
Your agent files a power of attorney authorizing them to act. It is signed by an authorized signatory of the company and stamped as required. It does not need to be filed on day one in every case, but it should be signed early, because chasing a signature across time zones after an examination report has issued is how deadlines get tight.
What the office charges
The Indian office fee depends on who the applicant is:
- INR 4,500 per class for individuals, startups and small enterprises.
- INR 9,000 per class for companies and other entities.
An EFTA-based company pays INR 9,000 per class. The lower tier is aimed at individuals, recognized startups and small enterprises, and a foreign trading company will normally not qualify. Do not budget on the lower figure and then discover the difference at filing.
These are office fees for one class each. Agent fees, search work and any objection response sit on top. Our India trademark service page carries the all-in price, and pricing shows the breakdown.
Choosing classes
India uses the Nice classification, so the class numbers are the same ones you use at home. What differs is drafting. Indian practice prefers specifications that track the office's accepted terms, and a vague or over-broad list attracts an objection.
File for what you sell now plus what is genuinely on the roadmap. Extra classes are extra fees, and unused classes can be attacked later. If you are not sure where your goods fall, class assist walks through it and India Trademark Classes covers the Indian practice.
Madrid designation or direct filing
India and all four EFTA states are in the Madrid Protocol, so both routes are open.
Designating India through Madrid makes sense when India is one of several countries you are filing in at once, and you want a single renewal date and one place to record a change of name or owner. The Indian office still examines the designation under Indian law, and if it issues a provisional refusal you appoint an Indian agent at that point anyway.
A direct Indian filing makes sense when India is the main event, when you want an Indian agent involved from the start, or when your home mark is narrower than what you want in India. A direct application is not tied to the fate of a home registration.
For the comparison in numbers, see Madrid Protocol vs Direct Filing.
Six months of priority
Under the Paris Convention, an Indian application filed within six months of your first filing in Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein can claim that earlier date. The claim has to be made when you file, with the priority details and, if the office asks, a certified copy of the earlier application.
If your European filing is already more than six months old, you have not lost anything permanent. You simply file in India on today's date and take your place in the queue from there.
What happens after filing
- Examination. The office issues an examination report if it has objections, on absolute grounds such as descriptiveness or on relative grounds such as an earlier mark. You get one month to reply.
- Hearing. If the reply does not settle it, the matter goes to a hearing, which your agent attends.
- Publication. Accepted marks are published in the Trade Marks Journal.
- Opposition. Anyone can oppose within four months of publication. An opposition turns the matter into a full proceeding with evidence rounds and adds a long time to the calendar.
- Registration. If nothing is filed against it, the mark proceeds to registration.
A straightforward application with no objection and no opposition can reach registration inside a year. An objection or an opposition changes the picture entirely, which is why the search at the start is worth doing properly. On answering an examination report, see India Trademark Objections and Examination Reports.
After registration
An Indian registration runs for ten years from the filing date and can be renewed for further ten-year terms. Renewal is filed in the year before expiry, and a lapsed mark can be restored only within a limited window and with a surcharge, so put the date in a system rather than a diary. See Trademark Renewal in India and our renewal service.
Keep evidence of use in India from the day you start trading. Invoices, packaging, marketplace listings and advertising, all dated. Indian law allows a registration to be removed for non-use, and the person defending has to produce the proof.
A note for food, drink and watch brands
Origin-linked words carry extra weight. India protects geographical indications under its own GI law, and an application that contains or evokes a protected indication can be refused or opposed. Swiss and Norwegian producers should also check the other direction, since terms tied to their own regions may already be registered or claimed in India by someone else.
If your name includes a place, a regional term or a phrase suggesting origin, have that checked as part of the clearance search rather than after the examination report arrives.
Sources
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does the EFTA-India trade agreement give my Swiss registration effect in India?
No. It contains cooperation and enforcement commitments, but registrations are national. You still file an Indian application, or designate India through Madrid.
Do I have to use an Indian agent?
You need an Indian address for service, and in practice a foreign applicant appoints an Indian trademark agent or advocate to provide it and to handle the file.
What does it cost to file one class in India?
The office fee is INR 9,000 per class for a company, or INR 4,500 per class for an individual, a recognized startup or a small enterprise. Professional fees are separate.
Can I file in India before I sell there?
Yes, and it is the normal approach for a foreign applicant. You can file on the basis of a bona fide intention to use the mark, then build the use record once you start trading.
How long does an Indian trademark take?
An unopposed application with no objection can register within about a year. An examination report, a hearing or an opposition adds time, and an opposed matter can run for years.
Is Liechtenstein treated differently from Switzerland?
Not by the Indian office. All four EFTA states are Paris Convention and Madrid Protocol members, so applicants from each have the same routes and the same priority rights.
