Drafting
Drafting writes the documents a trademark firm files besides oppositions, on your letterhead, as Word and PDF. Open Drafting in the menu.
| Document | When you use it |
|---|---|
| Reply to an examination report | The Registry has examined an application and raised objections. The reply is due one month from receiving the report; an application with no reply in time is treated as abandoned (Section 132 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999). |
| Authorisation of agent | A client signs it so you can act for them before the Registry. Print it on non-judicial stamp paper of the value your state requires. |
| Form TM-A | A new application for registration. |
| Form TM-R | Renewing a registration. Nishaan works out from the expiry date whether it is a renewal, a late renewal with the surcharge, or restoration. |
| Form TM-P | Registering an assignee as the new proprietor after an assignment. |
Writing a draft
Choose the document at the top of the page.
To start from a mark in your portfolio, type its application number and choose Fill in from portfolio. The mark, class, proprietor, goods and expiry date are filled in for you. From a mark's details anywhere in Nishaan, Draft a document does the same.
Complete the fields. For a reply to an examination report, tick each objection the report raises; for an objection under Section 11(1), list the cited marks one per line. Anything you leave empty appears in the draft in [brackets], so it is easy to spot.
Have the report as a PDF? Read the report (PDF) fills in the number, mark, class, applicant, date, objections and cited marks for you. Check them against the report.
Choose Draft. The draft appears under Your drafts: download it as PDF, or as Word to edit before filing.
Every document is a draft. Read it, complete the bracketed parts and adjust the submissions to the case before you file it. Nishaan does not file anything with the Registry.
What a reply to an examination report contains
For each objection you tick, the reply has a numbered section with the usual submissions and a bracketed note on what to add:
- Section 9(1)(a): why the mark is distinctive, and evidence of use if it has acquired distinctiveness.
- Section 9(1)(b): why the mark is not descriptive of the goods or services.
- Section 9(1)(c): why the mark is not customary in the trade.
- Section 11(1): the cited marks, how your mark differs from each, and other grounds such as different goods, honest concurrent use or consent.
- Use of the mark: the date of first use, with an affidavit of use.
- Formal requirements: how each one has been met.
Under Arguments for this mark there is a box for each Section 9 and 11 objection. What you write there goes into the reply in place of the bracketed note. Write arguments with AI fills the boxes with a first draft specific to the mark and its goods: how it is distinctive, or how it differs from each cited mark. Edit them as you would a junior's draft. See AI help.
You can also ask for a hearing if any objection is kept.
Choosing classes for a new application
On Form TM-A, if you are not sure of the class, describe the business in Not sure of the class? and choose Suggest classes and goods. Each suggestion has the class, goods or services worded the way the Registry accepts, and why it fits. Use this class puts it in the form. Draft one form per class.
Your letterhead
Drafts use the firm's name, address, phone, email and website, and the first attorney name and agent code, from Settings, Agency profile. To change a document's layout or wording, download its template in Settings, Report templates, edit it in Word keeping the placeholders, and upload it back.