Sound Board

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

I believe most lawyers feel parental about their clients’ rights. It is difficult not to when we put in so much effort into identifying, defining and protecting those rights. In doing so, more often than not, we come across some really nasty notices and briefs from lawyers we don’t even know and we take them personally.

For those of you who are wondering if they you have hit the wrong blog, please sit back. This is indeed about Intellectual Property and what I have referred to (in my title) is about the trademark ‘BRAHMOS’. As most of you would be aware, the term ‘BRAHMOS’ is quite popular in relation to supersonic missiles and now the same seems to have rendered a severe blow to two educational institutions, FIIT JEE Ltd and USA Univ Quest.

Dumb Starbucks impressed and gathered quite a lot of customers for free coffee on the day of their opening in Los Angeles last week. They ran out of coffee eventually but the publicity continued! Oh, they aren't associated with the REAL Starbucks and even admit that they consider them as models. Naturally, Starbucks wasn't too happy with their trademark being infringed.

The New Year starts with a bang! A big THANKS to all our clients and associates who have placed their trust in us and given us the opportunity to work with them and for them. This past year with all its ups and downs has certainly been very rewarding in terms of our aspirations and in retrospect, we recall each and every memory with fondness which is almost akin to parental affection.

Following up on my earlier post about the IP clause in an employment agreement, where I mentioned the contents of the clause ought to define the Intellectual Property, I figured that, that would be a good aspect to cover – Identifying IP.

The Plaintiff, Vogueserve International Private Limited, is an Indian company which was engaged in the business of trading of home textiles, home decorative, furnishing and clothing etc. and provide buying services for international buying companies. All four Defendants were employed with Vogueserve until July 2011. When they resigned, they took with them, the client database and other confidential information. In November 2011 they started a new company under the name of “Excel Buying…

My first job was at a start-up company – It was a part time job during law school, and I was working for a company that conducted creative theme based tours and events around the city. Working there helped me learn an incredible amount about everything! Partly through observing and a majority through actual experience I learnt the in and out of running a business, in particular, one that focused heavily on creativity.

A common misconception among many entrepreneurs is that they should use a name that best describes their business, products or services. Their intention is to enable customers to easily remember them. Some tech businesses use generic names so as to increase web traffic on key word searches. However, having a descriptive or generic name for your startup, products or services is not a good strategy for your growing business. The name you select should score high on the degree of protectiveness.…