Sound Board

Our thoughts and views on the practice of Intellectual Property in India and around the world.

As mentioned in my previous articles, the life of a trademark is ten years in India post which the mark requires to be renewed every ten years to keep the mark alive. Of course, the Trademark law requires the Trademark Office to notify the proprietor before the expiry of registration. Now the question that arises is :

Celebrities in India (particularly actors and film makers) have become extremely vigilant of their rights. There has been a considerable increase in the number of cases requesting for John Doe orders, recognition of celebrity rights and the number of trademark applications for the name of famous personalities have arisen. The Courts in many cases have recognized the concept of personality rights and have even decided cases when there has been unauthorized use of a personality’s name. However, a…

Who does not love chocolates?But the British in America do not seem to be in for "any" chocolate; much to their dismay though.

Most of us use Google almost every day and intentionally or unintentionally, we look forward to seeing what the Google Doodle of the day would be! Well, that is the kind of impact that the constantly changing “Google” logo has created on the minds of its users. I personally am very fascinated with the Google Doodles and that got me wondering about the pros and cons of constantly changing the trademark.

In my previous article about trademarks, one of the important pointers I had mentioned was about “use” of the mark. Considering that usage of trademark plays a pivotal role in trademark disputes, almost a decider in cases, it is important to explore it. So what is usage in India? How have the Indian courts and tribunals interpreted usage? Do the marks certainly have to be used in India to prove usage? Let’s explore!

If you are a wrestling fan, you would have definitely heard of John Cena, Randy Orton, The Rock, Cm Punk, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, The Great Khali, Rey Mysterio, HHH, Edge etc. As a fan of these mega stars, you would have purchased many merchandise to be more like them and also would have made sure that you bought the original ones and not the replicas. But are you certain that what you are buying is in fact the original piece? More often than not, retailers import few pieces of original…

Planning to file do trademark registration but would like to know more about it before taking the plunge? Here are a few pointers.

Assignment of trademarks is a process in which the owner of the trademark transfers the ownership of the mark either with or without the goodwill of the business. We had earlier written about the procedure for assigning trademarks and also the key points that should be incorporated in an assignment deed from a practical perspective. There are times when assignment of trademarks can be complicated - rights to a particular trademark are jointly owned by two or more companies or when the rights…

One of the important statuses in respect of a trademark, shown in the website of the Trademark Office is “opposed,” for the registration of the said mark becomes dependent on the outcome of the said opposition. The term “opposed” means that a third party, has found the mark objectionable primarily in light of Section 9 or 11 or both (and any other provisions of the Trademarks Act), intimates the same in writing to the Trademark Office and requests for its refusal. Section 21 of the Trademarks…