Editorial Staff

Exhaustion of trademark rights in India - The whole world is one market, or is it?

The Division Bench of the High Court of Delhi says it is, after having ruled in favour of “International Exhaustion” in the case of Kapil Wadhwa vs. Samsung Electronics Ltd., the only latest case available on the Doctrine of Exhaustion in India. So the bundle of exclusive rights granted to a…


Trademark for export trade – ‘use’ of the mark in India?

Over the last few decades, the world economy has witnessed a paradigm shift as far as transaction of goods and services are concerned. Companies have expanded their business operations and established their manufacturing units across the globe and services have traversed boundaries, which has in…


Indian Trademark Filing Fee increased – Retrospective effect from August 1, 2014

A year ago, we wrote about the tentative amendment to the Trademark Rules which involved the increase in filing fees. The Trademark Rules have been Amended and published in the Official Gazette of India issued by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. Indian Trademark Filing Fee…


OMG - 'WTF' is a registered trademark ?!

One of the main benefits of working as an intellectual property lawyer is that I get to know the latest in everything. Whether it is the latest technology through patents, products through brand names and designs or movies/songs/art etc through copyright, I get to live vicariously in the present…


Images on the Internet: Who owns the copyright?

Copyright in any literary, artistic, dramatic or cinematographic work comes into effect when the work is created. So if one takes a photograph or paints a picture, for all purposes the copyright begins from the time the work is created irrespective of its artistic quality. One can scribble on a…


Copyright Licenses: Authorized Agents v. Copyright Societies

As discussed in an earlier post, it is mandatory for owners of establishments to obtain copyright licenses in order to play music on their premises. In this way the law seeks to regulate the issuance of such licenses through creation of Copyright Societies under Section 33 of the Act, thereby…


3 Things your Marketing Team needs to know about Trademarks

Lawyers in general are not the most loved people on the planet. There is always a sense of caution when we’re dealt with. It’s also probably why the legal profession has two patron saints St. Ives and St. Thomas Moore (must be twice as difficult for us to get into heaven). Anyway leaving God and…


Laws concerning Internet Memes: Not so funny?

A recent study conducted by ‘We Are Social’ found that despite these slow speeds, Internet users in India spend almost 5 hours on the net every day, with 40% of that time spent on social media. Going by these statistics, Indian users roughly spend about 2 hours on social media and which platform…


FIFA and Copyright: Online Piracy in India

There has been a lot of brouhaha over the recent judgment of the Delhi High Court, where the Court has ordered ISPs to block websites that were illegally broadcasting the FIFA World Cup in a suit filed by Multi Screen Media (MSM) Satellite claiming exclusive broadcasting rights. The initial…


Trademark Examination Reports and their Replies – Trademark Law in India

The trademark registration process, which we have covered in an earlier post is fairly straightforward. A trademark application is filed, examined by the Trademark office, either refused or allowed subject to a hearing, advertised and registered if it is not opposed. In this post, I’ve decided to…