Sound Board

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

In a competitive global market, businesses need to strive to get ahead of their competitors. One of the ways to do this is by creating unique brand identities which help make a strong impact on the minds of consumers. Trademarks are especially useful in this respect, as consumers can easily make connections with their favourite products and services with the businesses that provide them, which in turn can ensure consumer loyalty.

Businesses which have (or are) trying to register their trademarks in several countries would be familiar with the concept of priority rights. If a person has applied for registration/registered a mark in his home IP office at Country A, then on the basis of the original application, he can apply for the registration of his mark in Country B, claiming a “priority date” (from the original application in Country A) whereby his mark will be considered to be registered as on the date of application…

More often than not, when a “bona fide” proprietor of the trademark (I use the term “bona fide” rather loosely here) finds unauthorized use of their mark by a third party, the first step taken (often) is to send the other party a legal notice. While some legal notices sent/received are convoluted and packed with legal jargon, some are brief and get the message across. A legal notice simply outlines the rights of the sender (“bona fide” proprietor) and cautions the infringing party to refrain…

“Intellectual property rights” is a paradox, where it promotes innovation and creativity, on the one hand, it might stagnate and monopolize ideas and business, on the other. With the development of human intelligence, complications also arose such that it became necessary to balance man’s imagination and the output of such imagination.

The primary purpose of a trademark is that it serves to distinguish the goods or services of one person from those of another. If a mark is not distinctive, it could lead to confusion in the minds of consumers and deceive them as to the origin of the product or service it represents. To prevent such confusion and deception, Section 9(1)(a) of the Trade Marks Act prohibits the registration of any mark which lacks distinctiveness.

Section 31 D of the Copyright Act, 1957 has been the bone of contention on many occasions with regard to issuing statutory licenses and the scope of broadcasters. In simple words, Section 31D  of the Copyright Act 1957 states that any broadcasting organization that wishes to communicate sound recordings, literary or musical work to the public may be allowed to do so by obtaining a statutory license after giving prior notice and payment of royalties to the owner of the copyright at rates that…

One of our IR applications designating India was a mark filed with the ® symbol with the WIPO. To give you clarity, the basic registration (mark it, it is a registration and not an application), is from a country which allows marks with the ® symbol. So it was never a problem in the basic registration. Going even further to make the process smooth and avoid unnecessary hassle, the Applicant has also disclaimed the ® symbol in the IR application.

In India, a request for examination must be filed for a patent application to be considered by the Indian Patent Office. This request can be made by the applicant, or any interested third party and must be filed within 48 months of the earliest priority application. If no request for examination is filed within this time frame, the application is considered abandoned. There are options for fast-tracking the examination process by filing a request for either Express or Expedited examination.

There are several occasions when the trademark owner would like to voluntarily cancel the registration of the trademark in India. In most occasions, the voluntary cancellation of trademark registration is due to an agreement entered by the trademark owner with a third party or for other business decisions taken by the trademark owner.

ITC Ltd. and Nestle S.A. are two household names that have become indispensable in our lives. There is a minimum of one product in every household that belongs to these conglomerates. The demography of the consumers for these brands is vast and covers every age and economic group. These companies have influenced our lives such that they have become an inevitable part of our monthly grocery list.