How to Track a Trademark Opposition Deadline in India (2026)

How-To Guide · Trademarks

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

A trademark opposition runs on strict deadlines, and the two that matter most are the four-month window to file an opposition after a mark is advertised, and the two-month window for the applicant to file a counterstatement once the opposition is served. Miss either and you can lose the right to be heard. To track them, you anchor each date to the official trigger, the journal date or the date of service, and set reminders well ahead. This guide explains each deadline, where the matter is heard, and practical ways to make sure none is missed. Last verified October 2026.

01Why the deadlines are strict

Trademark opposition is a deadline-driven process. Unlike many court timelines, the main opposition window cannot be extended, so a date slipping by is not a minor delay, it can end your right to object. The deadlines run from an official trigger date, not from when you found out, which is why tracking them from the correct starting point is the whole game.

There are two deadlines most people need to track, depending on which side they are on: the window to file an opposition, and the window to file a counterstatement when your own mark is opposed.

02The four-month opposition window

Under Section 21 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999, once a mark is advertised or re-advertised in the Trade Marks Journal, any person may file a notice of opposition within four months from the date of advertisement. Two things make this critical to track correctly:

• The clock starts on the journal date, the date the mark was advertised, not the date you noticed it.
• It is not extendable, under the Trade Marks Rules, 2017, so there is no grace period to fall back on.

Catching the advertisement early needs a watch on the journal; see how a trademark watch service works.

03The counterstatement timeline

If someone opposes your mark, the pressure shifts to you. Once the notice of opposition is served on you, you must file a counterstatement within two months. The consequence of missing it is severe: the application is treated as abandoned for want of prosecution, meaning you can lose the application itself.

So the trigger date to track here is the date of service of the notice of opposition, and the deadline is two months from it. After the counterstatement, the process moves to evidence, where each side files its evidence within set periods, and then to a hearing. For how those later dates are managed, see trademark opposition evidence deadlines.

04Where the opposition is heard

Trademark oppositions are decided by the Trade Marks Registry, before the Registrar of Trade Marks, at the appropriate branch. The notice of opposition, the counterstatement, the evidence and the hearing all happen within the Registry process, not in a civil court. An appeal from the Registrar's decision goes to the High Court.

Because it is a Registry proceeding, you track status on the IP India portal against the application number, and the Registry sets the hearing dates. For how hearing dates are followed, see trademark hearing tracking.

05How to track the dates

A reliable system beats memory. In practice:

• Keep one diary of all opposition matters, each with its trigger date, deadline and the next action, rather than scattered notes.
• Anchor every deadline to the official trigger, the journal date or the service date, and record where you got it.
• Set staged reminders, for example at one month, two weeks and one week before each deadline, so drafting starts in time.
• Check the IP India portal for status changes against each application number, because dates and documents appear there.

For a watch on new advertisements that feeds into this diary, go back to the trademark watch service explainer.

06Where Claw fits

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

Beyond the Registry diary, an opposition often depends on how courts have decided whether two marks are confusingly similar. Claw lets you search 30 crore+ judgments, with Supreme Court decisions from 1950 and High Court decisions from 1990, to find trademark rulings on point, in under 5 seconds. If an opposition decision is appealed to the High Court, Claw tracks cases, orders and hearings across 9,102 courts, benches and forums, so you can follow the appeal by party name. Claw does not use your case documents to train its AI models.

Create a FREE Claw account to research how courts decide trademark disputes and to follow an opposition appeal, using case search across Indian courts.

07Sources and further reading

• IP India (Trade Marks Registry and status): ipindia.gov.in
• IP India public search: search.ipindia.gov.in
• India Code (Trade Marks Act, 1999): indiacode.nic.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This is general information, not legal advice. Deadlines and procedure can change, so confirm the current law and take advice from a trademark attorney before you act.

08Frequently asked questions