The DPIIT’s Draft Trade Marks Manual 2026, intended to replace the 2015 version, introduces new procedures but contains ambiguities in examination standards, classification, and digital mark registration, requiring urgent clarification before finalization.
Gaps Identified in Draft Trade Marks Manual 2026
On 21 August 2026, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Trade (DPIIT) released the Draft Manual on Trade Marks: Practice & Procedure 2026 for public consultation. The two-hundred-page document aims to modernize trademark examination guidelines, but legal practitioners have identified critical ambiguities in areas such as classification of non-traditional marks, examination of sounds and holograms, and AI-generated marks.
The manual lacks specific guidance on the registration of digital marks, including NFTs and metaverse logos, and does not incorporate recent precedents on distinctiveness of colour marks or trade dress. It also omits clarity on the treatment of marks with overlapping IP rights, such as those protected simultaneously under copyright or design law.
Urgent Need for Harmonization
Critics argue that without judicially consistent benchmarks for 'deceptively similar' or 'acquired distinctiveness', the manual may lead to arbitrary refusals. The absence of flowcharts for opposition or rectification proceedings adds to procedural uncertainty.
For trademark attorneys, the draft signals the need to file detailed submissions referencing case law where manual guidance is absent. Stakeholders have urged DPIIT to align the final version with Supreme Court jurisprudence and international practices under the Madrid Protocol. Public comments were due within fifteen days of publication, but many experts recommend extending consultation for complex issues.
