Class 42, Class 9 and Class 35 for a software business
Class 42 covers the design and development of software and the provision of software as a service. Class 9 covers downloadable software and recorded programs. Class 35 covers business and advertising services delivered through a platform.
Most SaaS businesses need Class 42. A downloadable app or an on-premise product brings in Class 9. A marketplace or a platform providing business services to third parties brings in Class 35.
Filing all three by default is not strategy, it is expense. Filing only one, where the business genuinely spans two, leaves the gap a competitor occupies.
DPIIT recognition halves the government fee
Under the First Schedule to the Trade Marks Rules, 2017, an individual, startup or small enterprise pays ₹4,500 per mark per class on e-filing, against ₹9,000 for others.
A DPIIT-recognised startup qualifies, as does an enterprise holding a valid Udyam registration as a small enterprise. The concession is lost surprisingly often, because the certificate has to be attached to Form TM-A at the time of filing and cannot be claimed afterwards.
It must be attached to Form TM-A at the time of filing. It cannot be claimed afterwards and there is no refund. DPIIT recognition is itself free and can usually be obtained in days - if you are eligible and have not bothered with it, doing it before you file is the cheapest thing on this page.
Which Trade Marks Registry office handles a Bengaluru filing
There is no Trade Marks Registry office in Bengaluru, and this catches people out. India has five Registry locations: the Registry itself is at Mumbai, and its four branches are at Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad and New Delhi. A Bengaluru applicant files at the Chennai office, whose territory covers Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Puducherry and Lakshadweep.
Territorial jurisdiction follows the applicant's principal place of business in India, or the address for service in India where there is no place of business here. It is not the city your agent works from. So the Chennai office issues your examination report, lists any show cause hearing, and handles every later form on the file. Filing and fee payment are online, so being on the Chennai register is an administrative fact and not a reason to engage a Chennai agent.
This is one of the few places where Bengaluru is served from outside the state while almost everything else has moved in. Since 16 February 2026 Bengaluru has its own Regional Director, RD (SWR) at Bangalore, covering Karnataka, Kerala and Lakshadweep, so Regional Director approvals that once left the state now stay in the city. The trademark file still goes to Chennai.
What Karnataka costs a business around the filing
Professional tax, and an unusually high exemption. Karnataka levies professional tax under the Karnataka Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1976, administered by the Commercial Taxes Department at ctax.karnataka.gov.in, with enrolment and registration handled alongside e-Karmika. There is no government fee for registration or enrolment; the only amount payable is the tax itself. Salary up to ₹25,000 a month is nil, and above that the deduction is ₹200 a month for eleven months and ₹300 for February, which comes to ₹2,500 a year, the constitutional ceiling under Article 276(2). Enrolment for the business in its own right is ₹2,500 a year per place of business, raised from ₹2,400 with effect from 1 April 2025. The ₹25,000 exemption is far above Maharashtra's ₹7,500, so a good part of a young Bengaluru payroll falls outside professional tax altogether.
Shops and establishments, changed in September 2026. The Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Act, 2026 was assented on 3 September 2026 and gazetted on 4 September 2026, in force immediately. Three things changed that most advice still gets wrong. Registration is now valid until closure, with no renewal. An establishment with ten or more workers that is already registered under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 is excluded from the Act altogether, so it may need no Karnataka shops registration at all. And a godown within 100 metres of the registered premises no longer needs separate registration. Registration, where it still applies, runs on e-Karmika under the 1961 Act.
The municipal body is not BBMP. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has been dissolved. Bengaluru is administered by the Greater Bengaluru Authority through five city corporations: Bengaluru Central, North, South, East and West. Which corporation issues a licence depends on which one your premises falls in, and licensable trades come from Schedule X of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976. If you are reading a page that tells you to apply to BBMP, it is out of date.
If you are incorporating alongside the trademark. ROC Bangalore is unchanged by the 2026 Registrar reorganisation and continues to cover Karnataka. Karnataka's stamp duty on the memorandum and articles is the one figure we will not publish: the rate on the articles is reported two different ways by two different sources, a tenfold difference, and no official Karnataka schedule was obtained. We quote it to you in writing before you pay it.
What a Bengaluru business usually files alongside
Do DPIIT startup recognition or Udyam registration before the trademark, not after. Either one, held validly, is what entitles you to the ₹4,500 fee slab instead of ₹9,000, and it has to be attached to Form TM-A at the time of filing. GST registration is separate. If you are raising money, the mark should be owned by the entity that will be diligenced, because moving it later means a trademark assignment.
How we work with you in Bengaluru
Regikart has a branch office in Bengaluru at 26, Krishnalaya Complex, 4th Cross, N.R. Road, near S.J. Park Police Station, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560002. You can drop documents in, or send them on WhatsApp or by email at +91 70444 94804 and [email protected]. The head office is in Kolkata and there is a third office in Delhi.
Coined names, and why they are worth more
Section 9 refuses marks that lack distinctive character or describe the goods or services. The strongest marks are coined words with no dictionary meaning, followed by arbitrary words unrelated to the product, then suggestive words that hint without describing.
Startups frequently pick descriptive names because they explain the product, and then spend years and considerable money arguing acquired distinctiveness. A coined name registers more easily, enforces more easily and is worth more in a diligence exercise.