"Trademarks never expire": what Section 25 actually says about renewal

Legal basis: Section 25, Trade Marks Act 1999, read with Rules 57–61 and the First Schedule of the Trade Marks Rules 2017 — Effective: ongoing. Source: https://ipindia.gov.in/tm-act-1999. Last reviewed by CA Harun Raaj: September 2026.

"Trademarks never expire": what Section 25 actually says about renewal

A founder who moved from Chennai to Dubai in 2019 still runs an Indian consumer brand through a private limited company. The word mark was applied for on 12 October 2016, the certificate arrived in 2018, and the family has always treated the registration as permanent. In September 2026 a distributor points out that the mark shows as expiring on the IP India register, and a rival has filed a near-identical name in the same class. The belief behind the surprise runs through most Indian business circles: that a trademark, once registered, lasts for life. It does not. It lasts ten years, counted from a date most proprietors misremember.

Key point: A registered trademark protects a brand for ten years from the application date under Section 25(1) of the Trade Marks Act 1999, and stays in force only if the proprietor renews it before, or shortly after, each expiry.

What the law says

Ten years, not forever. Section 25(1) provides that registration "shall be for a period of ten years, but may be renewed from time to time". Renewal under Section 25(2) is for a further ten years "from the date of expiration of the original registration or of the last renewal". There is no cap on renewals — that is where the "forever" myth comes from — but a mark stays alive only if someone files and pays every ten years.

The clock starts on the application date, not the certificate date. Section 23(1) deems the mark registered "as of the date of the making of the said application". A mark applied for on 12 October 2016 expires on 12 October 2026, regardless of when the certificate issued in 2018. Proprietors who diarise the certificate date miss the real expiry.

The Registrar's notice goes to the address on record. Section 25(3) requires the Registrar to notify the proprietor of the expiry date. Rule 58 supplies the mechanism: a Form RG-3 notice, sent not more than six months before expiry, to the address for service. If that address is a vacated office, the notice is legally served and practically unseen.

Removal is discretionary, with a six-month cushion. If renewal conditions are not met by expiry, Section 25(3) says the Registrar "may remove" the mark, advertised under Rule 59. The proviso is the safety net: the Registrar "shall not remove" the mark if the prescribed form and fee plus surcharge are filed within six months of expiry — renewal in that window is as of right.

Months seven to twelve: restoration, discretionary. Section 25(4) lets the Registrar restore a removed mark within one year of expiry "if satisfied that it is just so to do", subject to conditions. Rule 60 directs the Registrar to weigh "the interest of other affected persons" — a rival's intervening filing has a voice here.

After twelve months: the mark is gone. Neither Section 25 nor the Rules provide any route to restore a mark beyond one year from expiry. The proprietor must file afresh and loses the original priority date.

A one-year shadow under Section 26. For one year after removal, a lapsed mark is "deemed to be a trade mark already on the register" when the Registrar examines other applications — unless there was no bona fide use in the two years before removal. This blocks a rival's registration for twelve months; it does not restore the proprietor's right to sue.

Renewal does not cure non-use. Section 47(1)(b) lets an aggrieved person seek removal of a mark unused in good faith for "a continuous period of five years and three months". Renewal keeps a mark on the register; it does not shield it from a non-use action.

Forms and fees

All renewal, surcharge and restoration transactions use Form TM-R. The First Schedule to the Trade Marks Rules 2017 prescribes, per class:

For a single-class mark filed online: on-time renewal costs ₹9,000; renewal in the six-month grace window costs ₹13,500; restoration in months seven to twelve costs ₹18,000 — and even then, at the Registrar's discretion rather than as of right.

Rule 57(1) permits filing "not more than one year before expiration" — earlier applications are not accepted. Rule 57(3) covers a certificate that issues after the renewal date has already passed: the fee can then be paid within six months of the actual registration date. The application may be signed by the registered proprietor or an agent who is a Registered Trade Marks Agent, an Advocate or a Constituted Attorney; where the applicant does not carry on business in India, an address for service in India is mandatory.

What this means for NRI-owned Indian brands

Everything in Section 25(3) turns on the Form RG-3 notice reaching a real person. An NRI proprietor who registered a mark from an Indian address and later moved abroad leaves a register entry pointing nowhere. The notice is served there anyway, the mark is removed and advertised in the Trade Marks Journal, and the owner finds out only when a rival's application surfaces. Updating the address for service — a separate recordal, not part of Form TM-R — is the single most valuable task an NRI brand owner can complete before the ten-year clock runs out. A trademark watch service that monitors the Journal for conflicting filings closes the gap the Registrar's notice leaves open.

A conflicting mark filed by a rival during the lapse does not automatically win: in the grace window the lapsed mark is still on the register, and for the following six months Section 26 treats it as on the register for examination purposes, giving grounds to oppose the rival filing. But a proprietor who waits until month eleven hands the rival a strong Rule 60 argument that restoration would prejudice an "affected person". Where a brand is moving from a founder personally into an operating company, record the assignment before filing Form TM-R, so the notice, the applicant and the register all show the same proprietor.

Step-by-step

• Find the true expiry date — the application date plus ten years (Sections 23(1) and 25(1)), or ten years from the last renewal (Section 25(2)).
• Check the address for service on the IP India register and update it if stale, so the Rule 58 notice actually reaches you.
• Diarise three dates: twelve months before expiry (earliest filing under Rule 57(1)), expiry itself, and six months after expiry (end of the as-of-right window under the proviso to Section 25(3)).
• File Form TM-R in the twelve-month window, selecting "renewal before expiry" and paying ₹9,000 per class (e-filing), with a power of attorney if an agent files. Our trademark renewal engagement covers the register check, the address update and the filing in one sequence.
• Confirm the renewal on the register — Rule 61 requires the Registrar to notify the proprietor and advertise the renewal in the Journal. A payment receipt is not proof; the register entry is.
• If already past expiry: inside six months, file with the surcharge — renewal cannot be refused. Between six and twelve months, file for restoration with evidence of continuous use, since the Section 25(4) discretion is exercised on the record supplied. Beyond twelve months, only a fresh trademark registration remains, and a rival's intervening filing may now carry the earlier priority date.
• Audit use, not just registration — keep dated invoices, packaging and advertising on file for each class, to withstand a Section 47(1)(b) non-use challenge.

Sources

• Trade Marks Act 1999, Sections 23, 25, 26 and 47 — Intellectual Property India: https://ipindia.gov.in/tm-act-1999
• Trade Marks Rules 2017, Rules 57–61 — Intellectual Property India: https://ipindia.gov.in/tm-rules-2017
• First Schedule fee entries for Form TM-R — Intellectual Property India: https://ipindia.gov.in/pages/trade-marks/learn/forms-and-official-fees
• Form TM-R — Intellectual Property India: https://ipindia.gov.in/frontend/pdf/trade-mark/Form-and-Fees/FORM-TM-R.pdf

I'm CA Harun Raaj, Visakhapatnam. If your trademark renewal is approaching or has already lapsed, reach out and we'll work out the right filing window together.

---

See Also

• Nice Classification 13th Edition: New Trademark Filing Rules from 1 Jan 2026
• Trademark Registration in India: The 4-Step Process Under Trade Marks Act 1999, Class 35 for Service Businesses, and Why a CA Should Handle the IP Audit
• Copyright Registration Under Section 44 of the Copyright Act 1957: Why Software Companies Need It

Need help with this?

Our team handles the paperwork. You focus on your business.