Sound Board

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

In the recent past, the office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (hereinafter called "CGPDTM") has been striving to make prosecution relating to Intellectual Property Rights user-friendly and transparent. But in a surprise move, the CGPDTM is now focussing on educating the younger generation about Intellectual Property!

It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.This is rather apt for the India IP scenario where many individuals and companies have been approaching the Courts with rather interesting questions (ones that we have always wanted answers to) and Courts have been very liberal, and cautious at the same time while interpreting these provisions of the intellectual property laws. With specific reference to the confidentiality clauses, non-disclosure agreements and trade secrets, there have…

I swear I can almost hear that thought passing through the cerebral cortex of many a client when it comes to discussing charges. Never mind that, as a part of a mid sized firm, I deal with flat fees instead of hourly and advise on strategic ways to reduce costs, when it comes to contract and prosecution of intellectual property, most people think they can do it on their own without a lawyer.

Did you know? By merely browsing a website on the internet, you have actually agreed to the website’s terms and conditions and privacy policy? Now that you are anyway bound by it by merely browsing the website, it would be best if you could actually go through it just to know the way in which your personal information which you may provide is going to be used. Just think about it. Okay other than our names I think everything else that we fill in on a standard log in form involves us disclosing…

The efficiency of the Indian judiciary has been the subject of many a discussion at both professional and personal gatherings that I’ve attended. The media has covered the overwhelming case backlog and seemingly infinite expanse of time that it would take to clear them. Most often the general public believes that taking something to Court, would end up in a judgement approximately two decades later, orders that rarely benefit either side, a staid interpretation of the law and that the only…

There’s no dearth for mobile applications on smartphones. There’s an app for everything today and you’ll definitely find one to meet your requirements. We’re spoilt for choices and that’s exactly the concern of every mobile application developer. They need to make sure that they stand out and create an app that is better than the ones that already exist. So what happens when someone copies a part of the app or clones the entire app? Is it an intellectual property infringement? This brings us to…

I originally wrote this post before the the 136th INTA annual meeting in Hong Kong (1st INTA annual meeting in Asia). Folks who have been attending the INTA meetings will agree as to how awesome it can be and yet tiring, which requires careful planning. I thought of putting down a few of my insights that can be useful in planning your INTA trip.

I’d written about Trade Secrets a while back, and the only way to protect those secrets in India, (barring not revealing them to another soul) is through Non Disclosure Agreements (NDAs).Non Disclosure Agreements are basically agreements signed between two people or entities which put down in writing that confidential information is being passed from one person to another, the nature of the information, the purpose and most importantly an undertaking from the person receiving the information…

Recently, the Bombay High Court heard two appeals together to rule on the same point of law, i.e., whether the Court could go into the question of validity of the registration of a trade mark at an interlocutory stage when the defendant takes up the defense of invalidity of registration of the plaintiff’s trademark in an suit of infringement.

The first draft of the National IPR Policy dated December 19, 2014 was made available to the public amidst all the curiosity regarding the content of this policy and also the controversy concerning the basis of selection of the members of the Think Tank. We had earlier written about how the Think Tank came into being and the tasks that were entrusted to the panel. The DIPP Public Notice of November 13, 2014 had called upon interested persons to submit their comments on the National IPR…