You build other people's trade dress every day. The question nobody puts in the contract: who owns yours — and who owns theirs?
Packaging companies sit in a strange position: you manufacture the brand surfaces of a hundred clients, while assuming your own B2B brand needs no protection because "consumers never see us." Then a competitor registers a confusingly similar name, a client walks off with the structural design your team spent months perfecting, or a brand owner sues you for printing a counterfeit order you did not know was counterfeit.
The class map for converters spans goods and services. Cartons, corrugated boxes and paper packaging sit in Class 16. Semi-worked plastics, laminates and industrial films sit in Class 17. Plastic containers, closures, crates and pallets sit in Class 20. The converting and job-work service itself sits in Class 40. One TM-A per class — ₹4,500 in government fees for startups, MSMEs and individuals, ₹9,000 otherwise. India is first-to-file, and B2B marks are not exempt.
Three filings cover most of the IP risk on day one. Each is a standalone service and each links to a deeper walkthrough.
Packaging founders skip trademark filing more than almost any other manufacturing sector, on one theory: our customers are procurement teams, not consumers. Three patterns show why that theory fails.
Each of these is a paperwork problem before it is a legal problem. File the mark, and fix the contracts.
Most converters need two or three of the four, depending on the mix of own-catalogue products and job work. Map your revenue lines against the classes with our class finder before filing — and put a clearance search ahead of the application, because the packaging register is dense with近 similar coined names built on Pack, Flex and Form.
Converters do genuine design work: structural engineering, die-lines, closure mechanisms, artwork adaptation. The ownership of that work is decided by the contract — or, in most Indian supply relationships, by the absence of one.
Three clauses solve ninety percent of disputes. First, an IP ownership clause: who owns the structural design, the die-line and the tooling — you, the client, or split (client owns their artwork, you own your structure). Second, a licence-back: if the client owns the design, you retain the right to use the underlying technique for other, non-competing customers. Third, an artwork indemnity: the client warrants they own or have licensed everything they ask you to print, and they carry the cost if a third party sues.
For structures worth protecting, design registration — filed before the client's product launches, in whoever's name the contract says — turns the argument into a certificate. Get the supply contract drafted once, properly, and reuse it on every order.
Government fees are ₹4,500 per class for startups, MSMEs and individuals, ₹9,000 otherwise. A converter filing in Classes 16, 20 and 40 as an MSME pays ₹13,500 in government fees across three applications. We file within 48 hours of confirming the mark and classes, and the ™ symbol can go on your letterheads, cartons and trade-show stall from the filing date.
Examination lands within a few months; objections get a 30-day reply window. Publication opens the 4-month opposition period, and a clean application registers in roughly 8–18 months. Registration is valid 10 years and renewable indefinitely. Design registrations run separately and faster — but only if filed before public disclosure.
Run a packaging or converting unit? Send us your product mix — we'll map Classes 16, 17, 20 and 40 for you today.
WhatsApp our team →Class 16, which covers paper, cardboard, corrugated boxes, cartons and wrapping materials. The printing and converting service itself falls under Class 40.
It splits: plastic wrapping and packaging films sit in Class 16, semi-worked plastics and laminates in Class 17, and rigid plastic containers, closures, crates and pallets in Class 20.
Yes. India is first-to-file, and nothing exempts B2B marks. A competitor who registers a similar name first can force you to rebrand regardless of how long you have traded under yours.
Whatever the contract says — and if there is no contract, expect a dispute. Standard practice: the client owns their artwork and brand elements, the converter owns the structural design and tooling, with terms recorded in the supply agreement.
Yes, through design registration under the Designs Act — it protects shape and configuration for 10 years, extendable by 5. File before the design is disclosed publicly; prior disclosure destroys novelty.