Editorial Staff

Board games and intellectual property - The way the law plays out

Growing up, board games were an integral part of my childhood and I particularly liked to play with my granddad because he’d always let me win! It is always fun to play a game of monopoly or scrabble with family or a group of friends, the losing and winning fights apart! Recently at work we were…


Can you register signatures as trademarks in India?

I’m sure most of us have or at least try to have a signature so unique that you wish is associated solely with you whether you are a celebrity or not. Some of us are also very particular about our signatures and we feel that it defines our personality. I’m sure we’ve all come across articles titled…


The Curious Case of Indian Startups and Trademarks

I have a startup story and it’s not a pleasant one. So if you’re expecting to read tales of college grads hunched over laptops in a basement, who created something unique, got funded and are billionaires by the time they are twenty eight, stop reading right away. I’m serious…. This here, is a story…


ZARA trademark dispute - Cocktails and clothes causing confusion?

The David-Goliath tussle in the trademark world is an unending one. It is a scenario where a big company is suing a small company and most often, the big company is made out to be a trademark bully. Though that might be true, in my opinion, it has more to do with protecting one’s trademark rights…


Surnames and Trademarks in India

Well, if you have a unique surname then you’ll not only have difficulties in explaining to people how to get it right but you will also have the difficulty in getting it registered as a trademark in India.  Having said that, there are obviously many discrepancies between the law and the judgments…


Few things you need to know about E-commerce & Intellectual Property

Every single time I’m sitting at the comfort of my home, e-commerce window shopping and buying things at the click of a button, I feel so thankful. Though this is not how I ideally enjoy shopping, it definitely makes life easy on some days! The e-commerce business in India has picked up a great…


5 common defenses I’ve heard domain squatters use during negotiation

There’s an instinct within most us that prompts us to lie or state the most ludicrous things when accused of being in the wrong. This primordial feeling (which may be what helped us survive) of justifying and rationalizing one’s actions is most evident in negotiations with trademark infringers and…


Calcutta High Court reaffirms well-established principles of Trademark law

They should not be placed side by side to find out if there are differences; rather the mark should be taken as a whole. This landmark judgement on trademark law, followed by many others, has taught us that while comparing two marks to judge if one of the marks is deceptively similar or not,…


Financial restructuring schemes as a defence to trademark infringement - Delhi HC says NO

Defence to trademark infringement In the last few years, we have had the opportunity of witnessing very interesting intellectual property cases and more importantly, case involving interpretation of intellectual property rights in consonance with other laws. The Delhi High Court recently decided an…


MSD – Glenmark patent row – Court granted injunction against Glenmark

Close to two years after Merck filed a suit for injunction against Glenmark and after a quite a struggle, MSD has finally been granted an injunction and Glenmark has been restrained from making and marketing its versions of the drug. The Delhi High Court laid down a detailed analyses of the facts…