Section 6, The Trade Marks Act, 2014

(1) The Registrar shall examine whether the applicationcomplies with the requirements of sections 4 and 5. (2) If the Registrar finds that the requirements of sections 4 and 5 have been complied with, the Registrar shall cause the application to be published in the Gazette so that any interested person may file a notice of opposition to the registration within the prescribed period and in the prescribed manner. (3) A person may, within three months, or such further time, not exceeding nine months in all, as the Registrar may allow, from the date of the publication of the application, give notice to the Registrar of his opposition to the registration. (4) A notice under subsection (3) shall be given in writing, and in duplicate, and shall include a statement of the grounds of the opposition. (5) The Registrar shall send a copy of the notice under subsection (3) to the applicant, and within one month after the receipt of the notice, or such further time, not exceeding three months in all, as the Registrar may allow, the applicant shall send to the Registrar a counter statement, in duplicate, of the grounds on which he relies in his application, and, if he does not do so, he shall be deemed to have abandoned his application. (6) The Registrar shall send a copy of the counter statement to the person who filed the notice of opposition and shall after hearing the parties decide whether the trade mark should be registered. (7) The applicant has, until the registration of the trade mark, the same privileges and rights when an application is published as the applicant would have if the trade mark had been registered; but it shall however be a valid defence to an action in respect of an act done after the application has been published, if the alleged infringer establishes that the trade mark could not validly have been registered at the time the act was done.