Sound Board

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

Cadbury and Lotte are famous brands for chocolates with Cadbury probably a little more famous in India since it has been around for quite a while. This fact may have been one of the many reasons why Cadbury could obtain an interim injunction against Lotte in January this year.

The quote above might be a little misplaced since this article is about parodies of trademarks and their position in Indian law but Weird Al’s words reflect certain irrefutable truths about parodies. One such truth is that parodies are an imitation (either comical or satirical) of something famous and well-established which would inevitably be imitated. Parodists walk a thin line. For creating a good parody, a parodist must sufficiently borrow from the original for the audience to recognise it…

Following my earlier posts on this topic (see here and here) and after yesterday’s upgrade by the Indian Trademarks Office, the e-filing system (“system”) now has all the forms prescribed by the Trademarks Rules.

It seems to have become a norm in India these days to rake up some controversy before a film’s release. It is almost always either intellectual property (copyright or trademark) violation or defamation. This time apparently it is both!

Following my earlier post, I am incredibly excited about the recent launch of yet some more forms being made available online. With this launch, the Trademarks Office has made a total of 57 forms available online.

To all who read this, my aim here is to share something that I have been brooding about...It may even be something “you” have been brooding about.. Hopefully someone or maybe even the Indian Trademark Office will come up with a satisfying answer?

For those of you who use (and love, maybe?) the e-filing system (“system”) of the Trademarks Office, things just got lovelier. Until the evening of February 05, 2014, the Trademark Office’s system allowed trademark applications (under various forms) along with a couple of requests such as responding to the examination report issued by the Trademarks Office, filing a request for inclusion of excess characters in the specification of goods or services to be filed online.

We bring to you a guest post by Keshava H. B., a fifth year law student from University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun who wants to specialize in intellectual property laws. In this article, he talks about sound marks and smell marks.

We bring to you a guest post by Nemish Zaveri, a fourth year law student from Institute of Law, Nirma University with a keen interest in intellectual property laws. In this article, he presents his views on the requirement to serve the O-3 notice. An O-3 notice is a reminder sent to the registered proprietor of a trademark before the validity of his trademark expires.