Sound Board

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

The recent spat between BigBasket and Daily Basket borders on this blur. BigBasket, the largest online grocery store in India slapped a Cease-and-Desist notice on Daily Basket, a young startup, alleging infringement of their trademark. They claimed that the mere mention or reference of a name containing “basket” in word or logo form for any E-commerce business and related products would confuse the relevant class of consumers into assuming association with BigBasket.

The Supreme Court indicated that it was proposing to lift the suo moto extension of the limitation period granted by it on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, with effect from March 15 this year. Following this, on 8th March 2021, the Court passed an order ending the extension of the limitation period.

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.

The procedure and timeline to obtain registration for a trademark have evolved over time.  After the amendment of 2017, the entire timeline has become quite stricter and quicker. We have all seen a lot of positive changes happening in the IP regime, however, there are still areas where we lag and would do extremely well to have clearer rules and laws, especially with respect to trademark applications under the Madrid protocol.

Businesses in India have often been started by using the surname or family name of the person starting such business. This practise has been followed in India for a very long time and such practice of adopting a surname for the name of the business is done purely so that customers can easily associate the surname so adopted with that particular business.

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.