Nykaa shelf space and Amazon Brand Registry both ask for one thing — a registered trademark. The launch budget doesn’t change anything if the brand is contested.
Beauty and personal-care is one of India’s fastest-growing D2C categories. It is also one of the most copied — the unit economics of look-alike products on Amazon and Meesho work against any brand without trademark and design protection in place from launch.
The base stack: trademark in Class 3 + Class 35, design registration of distinctive packaging, copyright in the marketing imagery, and (for ayurvedic, herbal or wellness positioning) a separate compliance overlay under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
Three filings cover most of the IP risk on day one. Each is a standalone service and each links to a deeper walkthrough.
Class 3 is the core class — cosmetics, soaps, perfumes, hair lotions, dentifrices. Class 5 if the product has medicinal claims (ayurvedic, dermatological, OTC). Class 35 for retail and online channels. Class 44 if there is an in-house clinic or salon arm.
Most beauty brands file 3 + 35. Wellness or ayurvedic brands file 3 + 5 + 35. Salon chains add 44.
Beauty buyers recognise products by their packaging before they recognise them by the brand name. A registered design under the Designs Act, 2000 protects the bottle shape, the tube design, the carton ornamentation. Filing before public sale is mandatory — Section 4 destroys novelty on disclosure.
The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and the AYUSH regulations classify ayurvedic, siddha and unani products as drugs requiring separate licensing. A trademark registration for the brand name does not cover the manufacturing licence. AYUSH licensing and sectoral compliance runs alongside the IP filings.
Amazon Brand Registry, Nykaa Verified Brands and Flipkart Brand Verified all require trademark proof. Without it, listing is permitted but enforcement against lookalikes is slow. With it, takedowns happen in 24-48 hours.
Launching a new SKU? File the trademark and the design before the packaging proof goes to print.
WhatsApp our team →Class 3 — cosmetics, soaps, perfumes, hair lotions, essential oils, dentifrices. Most beauty brands also file in Class 35 (online retail) and Class 5 if there are medicinal or ayurvedic claims.
Yes. Ayurvedic, siddha and unani products are regulated as drugs under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and need AYUSH manufacturing licences. A trademark registration is the brand right; the AYUSH licence is the regulatory right.
Register the design before launch. Design registration is fast (a few months), inexpensive (₹1,000 for startups/MSMEs/individuals, ₹4,000 for others) and gives clean statutory enforcement. Trade-dress passing-off requires long-acquired secondary meaning and is harder to prove.
With a registered trademark + Brand Registry enrolment, the platform’s IP takedown form removes the listing in 24-48 hours. Without registration, takedown relies on slower notice-and-action channels.