Industrial Designs
Indian Designs Office introduces e-filing of digitally signed forms & documents
In a welcome move the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks by public notice dated December 16, 2022 eliminated the mandatory requirement of filing physical copies of the forms for filing a design application in India. As a result, the forms and documents related to design…
Pre-Litigation mediation in Intellectual Property matters in India
The Commercial Courts Act (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) was enacted in 2015 to establish a definite procedural framework for dealing with commercial disputes. Commercial disputes include any dispute arising out of trade relationship between parties such as mercantile documents, partnership…
Pre-Litigation Mediation in Commercial Disputes in India
Alternate methods of dispute resolution are amicable methods of resolving disputes without the intervention of courts. It decreases the burden of the courts and encourages settlement proceedings among the parties. Generally, Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) uses one or more neutral third parties…
Design Renewal in India
At the outset, Section 11(1) of the Designs Act, 2000, grants copyright protection to a design for a period of ten years from the date of registration. However, if priority is claimed then the registration period is calculated as being ten years from the priority date. Further, as per Section 11(2)…
Renewal of Customs Recordal in India
In this current age, with counterfeit goods on the rise, measures such as recording one’s intellectual property with the customs authority in order to curb infringement is a necessity. More information regarding the procedure and requirements for recordal with the customs authority are available…
INDIA - Lifting of extension of deadlines due to COVID-19
To alleviate the difficulties faced by lawyers and litigants across the country due to the nationwide lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court on 23rd March 2020 passed an order in In Re: Cognizance for Extension of Limitation granting an indefinite extension of the…
Summary of the Indian Designs (Amendment) Rules, 2021
The Indian Government has recently notified an amendment to the Designs Rules, 2001. The Designs (Amendment) Rules, 2021 (“the Amendment Rules”), were notified in the Official Gazette on January 25, 2021, and are deemed to be in effect from that date. The Amendment Rules have sought to streamline…
Legal Notices in Intellectual Property Right cases: A slippery slope?
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…
India's Accession to WIPO Agreements – A Step Towards Knowledge Driven Economy
For an argument and with much precision one can state that, one of the reasons for transition of the world into knowledge driven economy is because of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). The accession to the three WIPO Agreements (i.e., the Nice Agreement, Vienna Agreement and Locarno Agreement) by…
What’s in a Shape – Protection of a Shape as a Design v. Trademark
One of the significant judgements from the recent time is the order of the Delhi High Court in the popular Crocs case. In an order dated March 6, 2019, the Court rejected the maintainability of a suit for passing off, in the case of a registered design. It is important to note here that the…