What is Advertised before Accepted and Accepted and Advertised?

Advertised before Accepted (trademark status) reflects when the Registrar is not completely satisfied with the distinctive nature of the applied mark and, Accepted and Advertised (trademark status) is the stage when your application is published in the Trademark Journal and open for opposition to the general public.

A trademark application is inspected at different stages of registration for the authenticity of the mark. 

When an application is assigned to the Trademark Examiner, he/she scrutinises it as per the provisions laid down in the Trademarks Act 1999 especially according to Section 9 and 11. 

If the applicant successfully clears all the objections raised on the mark (after examination report reply or a court hearing), the application goes through the next stage, i.e. advertised before accepted or accepted and advertised. 

Trademark Status: Advertised before Accepted 

Your trademark application status is updated as Advertised before Accepted in case the Trademark Registrar is not convinced with the nature of the mark, i.e. its distinctiveness or as per the provisions mentioned in Section 9 and 11 of the Trademarks Act. 

Section 20(1) of the Act states that, 

The Registrar may offer the application to be Advertised before Acceptance in the case mentioned above or any other exceptional situation. 

However, 

This stage does not guarantee that the applied mark will get registered as the application has to be accepted by the Accepting Officer even if there is no objection raised by the third party.  

Only when the officer accepts the application the status will change to ‘Accepted and Advertised.’ 

Trademark Status: Accepted and Advertised 

When the Trademark Registrar is completely satisfied with the distinctiveness and nature of the mark,he allows the application to be published in the Trademark Journal and be reflected as Accepted and Advertised.

But for the mark to be registered successfully, it must not receive any objections from the third party. After which, the mark will get registered, and a certificate of registration will be issued to the applicant as legal proof of the same. 

Wat’s Common 

There is a bit of similarity between both the stages as –

• In both the cases, the applied mark is published in the Trademark Journal. 
• The applicant has to wait for 3-4 months so that no objection is raised. 
• Both of the stages do not confirm the registration of the applied mark. 
• The general public can object the mark in case there are any similarities or confusion in the mark. 
• The applicant still can use the ‘TM’ beside his/her applied mark. 

But here is a thing!

The Accepted before Advertised status can be used as grounds for Trademark refusal by the Accepting Officer, on the pretext that the mark doesn’t distinctively distinguish the products and/or services that it represents.