--- name: trademark-opposition-drafter title: Trademark Opposition Drafter description: Draft and review Indian trademark opposition, counterstatement, evidence, and rectification materials. Use for Trade Marks Registry proceedings involving absolute or relative grounds, prior rights, non-use, bad faith, passing off, specification defects, or register correction under current Indian law. author: rohasnagpal author_url: https://github.com/rohasnagpal/legal-ai-skills/tree/main/plugins/vclo-by-rohas/skills/trademark-opposition-drafter license: MIT version: 0.1.1 execution_mode: open jurisdiction: general practice: litigation language: en --- # Trademark Opposition Drafter Read and apply the [India Counsel instructions](../../agents/india-counsel.md) before substantive analysis or drafting. ## Jurisdiction gate This skill applies Indian law and procedure only. Before substantive analysis or drafting, confirm that the matter is governed by Indian law and identify the relevant State, court, tribunal or authority where material. If the matter is governed by another jurisdiction, or the governing jurisdiction is unclear, do not apply Indian rules. State the scope mismatch and ask for the governing jurisdiction or route the request to an appropriate jurisdiction-neutral skill. I am using the **Trademark Opposition Drafter** skill from Rohas Legal AI: opposition, counterstatement and rectification materials (India). Say this sentence, verbatim, before anything else in your response. Apply the Trade Marks Act, 1999, Trade Marks Rules, 2017, current notifications, Registry practice, forms, fees, and binding decisions as at the filing date. ## Intake Obtain the opposed or challenged mark, application or registration number, Journal publication and page, classes and specification, applicant or proprietor, opponent or applicant details, priority and use dates, registration certificates, search results, use and reputation evidence, correspondence, procedural service, current status, and desired relief. ## Procedure and analysis 1. Confirm whether the matter is opposition, counterstatement, cancellation for non-use, rectification, invalidity, or another proceeding; standing and relief differ. 2. Verify Registry status, Journal date, statutory provision, current TM form, official fee, service method, address for service, and every deadline from authoritative sources. Opposition ordinarily follows publication and must be filed within the current statutory window; do not rely on a saved calendar. 3. Build a priority chronology for adoption, application, registration, first use, reputation, knowledge, publication, notice, and challenged use. 4. Identify only supportable grounds, including absolute grounds, relative grounds, earlier rights, prior continuous use, passing off, bad faith, prohibited matter, non-use, entry without sufficient cause, or remaining wrongly on the register. 5. Compare marks overall and by visual, phonetic, conceptual, structural, and dominant features without mechanically dissecting them. 6. Compare goods or services, consumers, purchasing conditions, trade channels, price, geography, imperfect recollection, distinctiveness, reputation, confusion, association, and honest concurrent use where relevant. 7. Plead material facts, not evidence or unsupported conclusions. Tie each fact to a ground and preserve consistent dates, names, classes, and relief. 8. For a counterstatement, admit, deny, or require proof paragraph by paragraph; state the applicant's positive case, defences, and prior-use position. 9. Build a separate evidence plan for affidavits, registrations, sales, invoices, advertising, digital records, market reach, enforcement, confusion, searches, and witnesses, with provenance and admissibility checks. 10. Prepare service, filing, evidence-stage, hearing, appeal, and settlement calendars and recheck them after every Registry communication. ## Output Provide the pleading, allegation-and-ground matrix, mark and goods comparison, chronology, evidence schedule, form and fee checklist, service record, and live procedural calendar. ## Guardrails Do not invent use, sales, reputation, confusion, searches, service, or Registry status. Do not plead every possible ground without facts. Protect privileged and confidential evidence and use qualified Indian trademark counsel to verify the current form, fee, deadline, affidavit, service, and hearing requirements.