India Sniffs Out Victory: First Ever Rose-Scented Tyre Trademark Approved

On, November 21, 2025, the CGPDTM greenlit TM No. 5860303 for Sumitomo Rubber Industries: "FLORAL FRAGRANCE / SMELL REMINISCENT OF ROSES AS APPLIED TO TYRES" in Class 12.

This is officially the first smell/olfactory mark ever accepted for registration in India, a moment many of us thought might never come under the Trade Marks Act, 1999.

Why this matters-

India’s Act requires every trademark to be (i) capable of graphical representation and (ii) capable of distinguishing the goods of one person from others.

Smell marks have historically been refused worldwide because smells are subjective and extremely difficult to represent graphically in a clear, precise, intelligible, and objective manner (remember the Sieckmann criteria from the ECJ?).

Yet, after almost 2½ years of examination, multiple hearings, and detailed submissions, the Registry has now held that both hurdles have been crossed.

How they cracked the “graphical representation” puzzle

The breakthrough came through an innovative scientific solution developed by three brilliant professors from Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Allahabad Prof. Pritish Varadwaj, Prof. Neetesh Purohit, and Dr. Suneet Yadav.

They represented the rose-like fragrance as a vector in a 7-dimensional space based on seven fundamental smell dimensions:

Floral

Fruity

Woody

Nutty

Pungent

Sweet

Minty

The radar-style graph (see Annexure A) clearly shows the relative intensity of each component, with “Floral” dominating exactly what you expect from a rose scent.

The CGPDTM held that this representation is clear, precise, self-contained, easily accessible, intelligible, durable, and objective thereby satisfying the statutory requirement under Section 2(1)(zb).

What this opens up-

1. Non-conventional trademarks (smell, taste, touch, motion, hologram, etc.) now have a real pathway in India provided applicants can satisfy the graphical representation + distinctiveness test in an objective, scientific manner.

2. Fragrance, flavour, cosmetics, automotive, and FMCG companies finally have a precedent to protect signature scents that form part of their brand identity.

This order will be studied for decades to come.

A new chapter in Indian trademark law has just been written, and it smells like roses! 🌹

Written by- Adv. Aditya Saxena