There is no single "logo registration"
People searching for logo registration are usually looking for one of two different things. A trademark registration protects your logo as a brand identifier — the thing that stops a competitor from using something confusingly similar on similar goods or services. A copyright registration protects the logo as an original artistic work — the drawing itself, regardless of whether anyone ever uses it commercially. They are filed with different offices, cost different amounts, and protect against different problems. Most businesses that ask for "logo registration" actually need the trademark, and should consider the copyright alongside it.
Registering the logo as a trademark
This is the filing that stops someone else from using your logo, or something close to it, to sell similar goods or services. It is done on Form TM-A, in the same process as registering a word mark, except the application carries an image of the logo instead of — or alongside — the brand name. The government fee is ₹4,500 per class for individuals, proprietors, and DPIIT-recognised startups or MSMEs with a Udyam certificate, and ₹9,000 per class for companies and other applicants. A word-and-logo combination mark and a logo-only mark are different filings with different scope, and which one to file depends on whether you also want the brand name itself protected as text.
Registering the logo as a copyright
Copyright in an original artistic work exists automatically from the moment it is created — you do not need to register it to own it. What registration adds is a dated, public record that is prima facie evidence of authorship, which matters if ownership is ever disputed or if you need to act quickly against someone reproducing the artwork. Filed on Form XIV with the Copyright Office, the fee is ₹500 for the artistic work itself. Where the logo is used on goods or services, the application also requires a search certificate from the Trade Marks Registry (Form TM-C, ₹10,000) confirming there is no conflicting registered mark — a step that catches applicants who assumed copyright alone was enough to use the logo commercially.
The ownership question that catches most businesses
If a freelance designer or an agency created your logo, they own the copyright in it unless a written agreement assigns it to you. Paying the invoice does not transfer ownership — it only pays for the deliverable. This gap is the single most common issue found during investor diligence and trademark disputes involving commissioned artwork, and it is worth fixing with a signed assignment before it becomes a problem, not after.
Which one do you actually need
If the logo is going on your product, packaging, website, or marketing — anywhere it functions as a brand identifier — file the trademark; that is the registration doing the actual commercial protection. Add the copyright registration where the artwork itself has independent value, where multiple people were involved in creating it, or where you want a second, harder-to-dispute layer of evidence. Very few businesses need only the copyright and not the trademark; the reverse is far more common.
Note: this guide is general information, not legal advice for your specific matter. Rules, fees and registry practice change. Before acting, speak to us about your situation.