Sound Board

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

We have been providing regular updates on the efforts taken by the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM) to achieve complete automation and more significant, absolute transparency(some of our articles on this could be found here and here). In yet another move towards transparency, the CGPDTM has now introduced "Stock and Flow based Dynamic Trademark Utility."

So what if the awe-inspiring Google GLASS had everyone spell bound; the spell and the GLASS appear to be unceremoniously shattered(pun intended!) by the United States Patent and Trademark Office(USPTO).

For those of you who decided to read the article based on the title, expecting some hard hitting piece of English prose on India and US talks on IP based on the issue of pharma patents and the like; I’m sorry to disappoint. I started off this post with a very simple question in mind as to whether the political parties contesting the elections in India have their names, symbols or slogans trademarked or not.

When a trademark application is filed, it is examined by the Trademark Office to check if it overcomes the objections laid down by the Trademarks Act 1999(predominantly Section 9 and Section 11 of the Act). If there are objections to registration of the said mark, an opportunity is given to the applicant to overcome the objections so raised through a response to the examination report and further, if necessary, through a hearing before a Hearing officer. Based on the same, the mark is either…

From the newspapers to our daily lives and our secret fears – it’s all about being intimidated by the big guy. Most of us believe (or is it just me?) that they can be overpowering because they are they and we are we. I can’t begin to fathom how it must be out there for the new entrepreneurs in the competitive market. The big sharks are waiting to swallow them and they tread carefully hoping to survive the competition. The David-Goliath battle in not new to any filed and it is no exception in…

In the world of fashion, Swarovski is known for its crystals. Yet in what could be described as a David vs. Goliath battle, Swarovski lost its registered trademark “Crystal Glamour” in January 2014 because of a rectification petition filed by an innocuous and relatively unknown textile manufacturers from Tiruppur (a city in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu) called Crystal Knitters. However, much like the Cadbury in Cadbury vs. ITC case before the IPAB, Swarovski gave up its registered mark…

It all starts in the womb. I don’t mean anything euphemistic or metaphorical, but literally; I was recently told that to get into premier schools in India, parents have to apply for admission immediately after conception. One parent, was incredibly upset that he missed out because his child was already due in a month and he hadn’t applied! He tells me, “There are plenty of schools, I know, but in this one my child would have been able to study with X’s children and think of it, several years…

A little over 5 months ago, the IPAB’s order caught everyone by surprise. Cadbury, the company known very well indeed for Cadbury Eclairs, lost some of its marks consisting the term “Eclairs” without putting up much of a fight. Interestingly Cadbury’s loss was a foreseeable consequence of its own action against ITC.